ESA: outcomes of Work Capability Assessments including mandatory reconsiderations and appeals: September 2020
Outcomes of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Work Capability Assessments, including mandatory reconsiderations and appeals information.
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
Documents
Details
The latest release of these statistics can be found in the collection of ESA: outcomes of Work Capability Assessments statistics.
Find further breakdowns of these statistics in Stat-Xplore, an online tool for exploring some of the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP’s) main statistics. You can use Stat-Xplore to create your own customised tables and charts.
DWP statisticians improved the methodology of matching the HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) appeals data with ESA administrative data and started implementing it since the March 2020 release.
The improved methodology has resulted in increases to the number of appeals for current and historic ESA Work Capability Assessments outcomes. The new methodology however has not changed the overall story or proportions of WCA appeals that are upheld or overturned.
Read the statistics methodology note for more information about this.
This publication provides statistics on:
- the outcomes of completed ESA Work Capability Assessments
- claims still in progress
- claims closed before the Work Capability Assessment process is complete
- outcomes of completed appeals for ESA Work Capability Assessments
This release also includes:
- ESA Work Capability Assessment mandatory reconsideration registrations and outcomes to July 2020
- statistics on ESA Work Capability Assessment mandatory reconsideration clearance times to July 2020
- more detailed ‘experimental’ cohort information
- ESA clearance times, including regional breakdowns, to March 2020
- completed appeals outcomes for initial Work Capability Assessments to June 2019
The publication covers both new and repeat ESA claims and information on claims undergoing reassessment of incapacity benefits for ESA in Great Britain.
More information
Read background information on these statistics in ESA: outcomes of Work Capability Assessment policies and statements.
Find more about DWP statistics and contact details on the Statistics at DWP page.
Find details of future DWP statistics releases in the statistics release calendar.
Next release of statistics
The next release of ESA Work Capability Assessment statistics has been postponed due to delays caused by the HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) migrating appeals data to a new operational system. The next statistics will now be released on 14 January 2021.
The release will only consist of a reduced set of data tables due to ongoing issues with HMCTS appeals data. Once the issue with the appeals data is resolved, future publications will include a complete back-series covering any missing tables. The release will include the following information:
- Work Capability Assessment outcomes of initial and repeat Work Capability Assessments
- end to end initial ESA claim clearance times
- mandatory reconsiderations information
- number of mandatory reconsiderations registrations
- number of mandatory reconsiderations decisions
- mandatory reconsiderations outcomes by type of decision
- median mandatory reconsiderations clearance time