Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the letter of 24 March 2021 from the Minister for Disabled People to the Work and Pensions Committee, how many claimants her Department has identified as being ineligible for a remote Work Capability Assessment in each month since the suspension of face-to-face assessments on 16 March 2020 in response to the covid-19 outbreak; and how many of those claimants so identified her Department has now assessed.

We have interpreted your question to mean how many claimants have been identified as not suitable for a telephone Work Capability Assessment (WCA) in each month since the 16 March 2020; and how many of those claimants have now been assessed.

The information requested is not available.

Initial guidance for those identified as not suitable for telephone assessments has evolved since WCA telephone assessments were introduced in May 2020. In addition, further case reviews, changes of circumstance or further medical information for example, may lead to a change in advice over whether a telephone assessment is appropriate.

DWP continues to work with Centre for Health and Disability Assessments (CHDA), to minimise the number of people identified as not suitable for a telephone assessment and we are currently exploring alternative ways of conducting health assessments. For example, we continue to complete paper based assessments and make recommendations based on the written evidence available where possible and have introduced some video assessments where appropriate. We are planning to resume face to face WCAs next month for those who we are unable to fully assess by other channels.