Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the proposed changes to the Work Capability Assessment on disabled people’s finances.

The vast majority of existing Universal Credit (UC) or Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) claimants will not be affected by the Work Capability Assessment Changes if they have already been assessed as having Limited Capability for Work and Work-Related Activity LCWRA. With the Chance to Work Guarantee, which will be introduced with the WCA changes in 2025, the majority of this group will be able to try work without the fear of reassessment, as we will be switching off department-led reassessments for existing claimants.

The financial impacts on individuals have been considered in taking decisions on the Work Capability Assessment (WCA), alongside consideration of the responses to the consultation.

The Office for Budget Responsibility have published their assessment of the numbers that they expect to be affected by the changes and HMT have also published the impacts in their policy costing note that accompanies the Autumn Statement. We will publish an Impact Assessment in due course.