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Written Question
Work Capability Assessment
Friday 28th February 2025

Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 6 January to Question 27607 on Work Capability Assessment, how many and what proportion of decisions for each assessment interview type were classified as (a) fit for work, (b) need to prepare to work in the future, but have limited capability for work and (c) have limited capability for work and work related activity between January 2019 and December 2024.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The information requested on decisions is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

However, we have provided the monthly figures on health professional (HP) recommendations, Fit for Work, Limited Capability for Work (LCW) and Limited Capability for Work Related Activity (LCWRA), following a Work Capability Assessment (WCA) separated by assessment type, since January 2021, in the attachment.

Please Note

  • The information in the attachment shows recommendations made by assessment suppliers for claimants undergoing Employment Support Allowance or Universal Credit WCAs. These are not decisions. Recommendations made by a health professional are considered, along with other evidence, by DWP decision makers who will make a final decision on benefit entitlement.
  • All of the above data is derived from contractual management information produced by the assessment suppliers.
  • The above data is derived from unpublished management information which is collected for internal departmental use only and has not been quality assured to Official Statistics Publication standards.
  • We have not provided HP recommendations management information for periods prior to January 2021 because the information for this period is not robust enough for publication.
  • Volumes have been rounded to the nearest 100 and therefore the totals may not add up.
  • The percentages are based on the actual amounts and not the rounded figures.
  • The Other columns include other outcomes recorded as 'not terminally ill', 'other' and 'home visits' where recommendations are not available.
  • All data is showing recommendations made by assessment suppliers and therefore is not the finalised customer outcome (cannot be classed as the decision).
Written Question
Work Capability Assessment
Thursday 6th February 2025

Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of Work Capability Assessments were carried out (a) face-to-face, (b) remotely and (c) on paper in each month since March 2020.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The number and proportion of Work Capability Assessments carried out face-to-face, remotely (by telephone and video) and by paper each month since March 2020 can be found in the tables below.

March 2020 to December 2020

Month

Face-to-Face

Telephone

Video

Paper-Based

Number

Proportion

Number

Proportion

Number

Proportion

Number

Proportion

Mar-20

33,200

62.4%

0

0.0%

0

0.0%

20,000

37.6%

Apr-20

0

0.0%

200

1.0%

0

0.0%

19,000

99.0%

May-20

0

0.0%

1,000

4.7%

0

0.0%

20,200

95.3%

Jun-20

0

0.0%

8,500

42.3%

0

0.0%

11,600

57.7%

Jul-20

0

0.0%

13,200

58.7%

0

0.0%

9,300

41.3%

Aug-20

0

0.0%

14,000

66.7%

0

0.0%

7,000

33.3%

Sep-20

0

0.0%

24,600

76.4%

0

0.0%

7,600

23.6%

Oct-20

0

0.0%

33,400

79.5%

0

0.0%

8,600

20.5%

Nov-20

0

0.0%

31,100

79.3%

0

0.0%

8,100

20.7%

Dec-20

0

0.0%

30,700

81.4%

100

0.3%

6,900

18.3%

2021

Month

Face-to-Face

Telephone

Video

Paper-Based

Number

Proportion

Number

Proportion

Number

Proportion

Number

Proportion

Jan-21

0

0.0%

33,000

82.9%

100

0.3%

6,700

16.8%

Feb-21

0

0.0%

36,200

84.0%

100

0.2%

6,800

15.8%

Mar-21

0

0.0%

50,200

86.3%

200

0.3%

7,800

13.4%

Apr-21

0

0.0%

45,000

85.9%

0

0.0%

7,400

14.1%

May-21

700

1.4%

41,800

84.8%

0

0.0%

6,800

13.8%

Jun-21

3,700

6.9%

42,700

80.0%

0

0.0%

7,000

13.1%

Jul-21

4,000

8.2%

38,300

78.6%

100

0.2%

6,300

12.9%

Aug-21

1,400

3.0%

37,500

81.0%

800

1.7%

6,600

14.3%

Sep-21

1,200

2.5%

37,200

77.0%

2,600

5.4%

7,300

15.1%

Oct-21

1,600

3.6%

33,600

74.7%

3,300

7.3%

6,500

14.4%

Nov-21

6,200

12.3%

33,200

65.7%

3,400

6.7%

7,700

15.2%

Dec-21

5,400

12.1%

30,200

67.7%

2,900

6.5%

6,100

13.7%

2022

Month

Face-to-Face

Telephone

Video

Paper-Based

Number

Proportion

Number

Proportion

Number

Proportion

Number

Proportion

Jan-22

300

0.6%

43,100

79.8%

4,000

7.4%

6,600

12.2%

Feb-22

3,700

6.9%

38,000

71.2%

4,200

7.9%

7,500

14.0%

Mar-22

8,100

14.0%

37,500

64.9%

4,700

8.1%

7,500

13.0%

Apr-22

7,200

15.0%

30,500

63.7%

3,600

7.5%

6,600

13.8%

May-22

9,000

16.3%

35,200

63.9%

3,800

6.9%

7,100

12.9%

Jun-22

7,400

15.4%

31,200

64.7%

3,500

7.3%

6,100

12.7%

Jul-22

7,400

15.3%

31,500

64.9%

3,200

6.6%

6,400

13.2%

Aug-22

8,200

16.0%

32,500

63.6%

3,800

7.4%

6,600

12.9%

Sep-22

7,400

15.0%

31,800

64.5%

3,700

7.5%

6,400

13.0%

Oct-22

7,500

14.2%

35,300

66.6%

3,900

7.4%

6,300

11.9%

Nov-22

8,600

14.8%

38,700

66.5%

4,100

7.0%

6,800

11.7%

Dec-22

6,400

14.2%

30,800

68.1%

3,200

7.1%

4,800

10.6%

2023

Month

Face-to-Face

Telephone

Video

Paper-Based

Number

Proportion

Number

Proportion

Number

Proportion

Number

Proportion

Jan-23

8,600

14.4%

40,300

67.4%

4,600

7.7%

6,300

10.5%

Feb-23

8,200

13.9%

40,600

68.6%

4,100

6.9%

6,300

10.6%

Mar-23

9,100

13.7%

45,200

68.3%

4,600

6.9%

7,300

11.0%

Apr-23

6,600

12.3%

37,900

70.8%

3,600

6.7%

5,400

10.1%

May-23

7,400

12.8%

40,300

70.0%

4,000

6.9%

5,900

10.2%

Jun-23

7,600

12.1%

44,600

70.9%

4,300

6.8%

6,400

10.2%

Jul-23

7,000

11.7%

41,600

69.6%

3,900

6.5%

7,300

12.2%

Aug-23

6,600

10.6%

42,300

67.8%

4,100

6.6%

9,400

15.1%

Sep-23

5,700

9.5%

39,900

66.6%

4,100

6.8%

10,200

17.0%

Oct-23

3,900

7.9%

33,900

68.8%

3,000

6.1%

8,500

17.2%

Nov-23

6,700

10.9%

42,500

69.0%

4,000

6.5%

8,400

13.6%

Dec-23

5,800

12.1%

32,600

68.2%

3,600

7.5%

5,800

12.1%

2024

Month

Face-to-Face

Telephone

Video

Paper-Based

Number

Proportion

Number

Proportion

Number

Proportion

Number

Proportion

Jan-24

8,300

12.4%

45,200

67.5%

5,000

7.5%

8,500

12.7%

Feb-24

9,000

13.5%

44,400

66.4%

5,300

7.9%

8,200

12.3%

Mar-24

8,100

13.0%

40,800

65.6%

5,500

8.8%

7,800

12.5%

Apr-24

8,500

13.0%

43,500

66.5%

5,600

8.6%

7,800

11.9%

May-24

6,500

10.0%

45,700

70.4%

5,700

8.8%

7,000

10.8%

Jun-24

5,800

10.1%

40,100

69.7%

4,700

8.2%

6,900

12.0%

Jul-24

5,000

7.5%

45,900

69.2%

6,700

10.1%

8,700

13.1%

Aug-24

3,800

6.9%

39,300

71.3%

5,200

9.4%

6,800

12.3%

Sep-24

3,600

7.0%

39,900

77.8%

1,300

2.5%

6,500

12.7%

Oct-24

5,500

9.2%

41,500

69.4%

4,400

7.4%

8,400

14.0%

Nov-24

5,100

9.2%

38,500

69.2%

4,200

7.6%

7,800

14.0%

Dec-24

4,600

10.4%

31,200

70.4%

2,900

6.5%

5,600

12.6%

Please Note

  • All volumes have been rounded to the nearest 100.
  • Due to rounding some percentages may exceed 100%.
  • Remote assessments include telephone and video assessments.
  • Due to the period covered in this question, the data source has been amended so figures may not exactly match with previous publications.
  • All the above data is derived from contractual management information produced by the assessment suppliers.
  • The above data is derived from unpublished management information which is collected for internal departmental use only and has not been quality assured to Official Statistics Publication standards.
Written Question
Social Security Benefits: Fraud
Monday 3rd February 2025

Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent progress her Department has made on tackling fraud in the welfare system.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

We are delivering £8.6bn of new savings over the next five years to tackle fraud. This includes recruiting an additional 3,000 counter-fraud staff, committing to deliver the Targeted Case Review in Universal Credit and bringing forward savings of £1.5bn through measures within the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery Bill) which we introduced to Parliament on 22nd January.