Centre for Mental Health welcomes moves to improve Government's fitness for work assessment

23 November 2010

Centre for Mental Health today welcomed the publication of a major review of the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) and the Government’s promise to make changes to the way benefit claimants are assessed for disability and ill health in response.

Welcoming the publication of Professor Malcolm Harrington’s Independent Review of the Work Capability Assessment, Centre for Mental Health joint chief executive Bob Grove said today: “The WCA has too often failed people with mental health problems. Professor Harrington points to major weaknesses in the system, describing the process as ‘impersonal’ and ‘mechanistic’ and pointing to excessive reliance on assessments made by Atos Healthcare staff and shortcomings in the descriptors used to assess mental health difficulties.

“The review makes sensible recommendations for changing the system, including more transparency about the Atos assessment, a greater role for Jobcentre Plus decision-makers and locating mental health ‘champions’ in Atos centres. We are pleased that the Government has accepted these recommendations and hope that they will improve the way the system works.

“We are disappointed, however, that there is no proposal to road-test new descriptors before they are used. We must ensure that the WCA is as robust as possible before it is used and that its reliability is constantly monitored.

“An inaccurate, ill-timed or badly handled WCA can have a damaging effect on a person’s mental health and the support they need to get into work. It is vital that the system is improved as a matter of urgency.”