The Countess of Mar tabled the following questions about the work capability assessments carried out by Atos in respect of applications for the Employment and Support Allowance.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many appeals against initial work capability assessments to either Jobcentre Plus decision-makers or the First Tier Tribunal have been successful; what percentage of total appeals have been successful; how many successful appeals were attributed to errors in assessments conducted by Atos Healthcare between March 2012 and March 2013; and what percentage of successful appeals in period those appeals represent.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many work capability assessments have either not been challenged or have been appealed unsuccessfully; and what proportion of such assessments made between March 2012 and March 2013 those cases represent.
The following written answer was provided on 22 May 2013 by Lord Freud, Minister for Relfare Reform at the Department for Work and Pensions:
The department regularly publishes official statistics on the outcomes of employment and support allowance (ESA) work capability assessments (WCAs) for new claims made to ESA and for incapacity benefits claimants being reassessed for ESA. The latest statistics include outcomes of appeals heard up to the end of February 2013 against Fit for Work decisions at initial WCAs (for new ESA claims that started between October 2008 and February 2012) and can be found on the internet at the link below (table 3).
Employment and Support Allowance: Outcomes of Work Capability Assessments, Great Britain: Excel spreadsheet download available HERE.
Information on how many successful appeals were attributed to errors in assessments conducted by Atos Healthcare is not available.
Source
