Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many work capability assessment cases were overturned as a result of incorrect decisions made by outsourced assessment centres in the last six months.

Healthcare Professionals (HCP), who work in the assessment centres, produce reports on which Work Capability Assessments (WCAs) decisions, both for ESA and UC, are based. The decision itself is made by DWP staff not the HCP. Those decisions can be changed at both Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) and appeal.

Statistics on Employment and Support Allowance Work Capability Assessment (WCA) outcomes are published quarterly. The latest figures covering the outcome of completed initial and repeat WCAs, including appeals decisions and mandatory reconsiderations, can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/employment-and-support-allowance-outcomes-of-work-capability-assessment

Additional breakdowns of the ESA WCA figures can be found at:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/

Guidance for users is available at:

https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html

Statistics on Work Capability Assessments for Universal Credit, including the outcome of MRs and appeals, are currently under development for future publication and have not previously been published as official statistics. We will issue them in due course as an official statistics release in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics