Harrington WCA Review (Year 3)
Work Capability Assessment Independent Review — Year 3
Employment & Work
Third and final annual review by Professor Malcolm Harrington of the Work Capability Assessment. Found significant improvements following Years 1 and 2 and made 3 remaining recommendations on further system refinements.
3recommendations
3Not Yet Responded
Government Response
DWP accepted the remaining recommendations. The Year 3 review found the WCA had improved substantially following earlier reforms.
1 January 2013
Recommendations
Recommendation 1
In order to improve the quality of decision making the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions asks the Tribunal Service for timely feedback on reasons for upheld appeals.
Recommendation 2
Rather than an Appeals Officer re-writing the Reasoning valuable time and resources could be saved by adding necessary information to it and then submitting it. The DMs reasoning is then the backbone of the Department’s case for that claim, any reconsideration, and any appeal.
Recommendation 3
I propose that the MJSS of the RCJ CAB identify these cases as they arise and that a designated DWP official is in place to receive notification of each case. The DWP official then oversees the WCA process by ensuring that in the area of the country where the ex-prisoner resides, an experienced Decision Maker takes the case and identifies an Atos healthcare professional (who is an expert in mental health) to undertake the face-to-face assessment.