Damien Egan: DWP: Written Answers (2)

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 22^nd January.