Centre for Mental Health

Centre for Mental Health welcomes the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee report on work capability assessment

26 July 2011

Centre for Mental Health today welcomed a call by the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee for the Government to track the employment outcomes of people with different health problems and disabilities as part of its welfare reform programme.

Responding to the Committee’s report, The role of incapacity benefit reassessment in helping claimants into employment, Centre for Mental Health chief executive Sean Duggan said: “Too many people with mental health problems do not get the right support to find paid work. Tracking the employment outcomes for people with mental health problems from their contact with the benefit system and the Work Programme will give vital insights to ensure both are built around people’s needs in future.

“The Committee rightly points to serious weaknesses in the way fitness for work is measured through the Work Capability Assessment (WCA). We recognise the steps the Government is taking to improve this process. But we are concerned that the process of reassessing Incapacity Benefit claimants nationwide is taking place before Professor Malcolm Harrington’s second review of the WCA has been completed.

“The impact on a person’s mental health of an inaccurate Work Capability Assessment can be devastating. It also affects the level and type of support people receive from the Work Programme, which may be inadequate if they need more intensive help to get and keep work than their WCA result implies.

“We also agree with the Committee that action is needed to combat the stigma that surrounds people on incapacity benefits. The Government should take action with Work Programme providers, the NHS and others to reach out to employers and to address the many barriers to paid work that disabled people face.”