New recommendations from Professor Harrington
The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) was introduced in October 2008 to assess entitlement to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).
Professor Harrington was reappointed to lead the third independent review in 2012. His third review sets out a series of recommendations to the Government based on the evidence he collected as part of the review and which complement the recommendations from his first and second reviews.
Recommendations in previous Reviews have broadly been divided into two main areas:
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Improving the process to make the assessment fairer and more effective through: better communications with claimants; improving transparency; empowering Decision Makers; and ensuring quality decisions are made; and
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Investigating whether the current descriptors are fit for purpose, and if not making suggestions for improvements.
This year three Review has examined the scale of change that has occurred, driven forward outstanding areas of work from previous Reviews and has proposed additional recommendations to further the scope of change.
The Department of Work and Pensions published the year three review on 20 November 2012.
Visit the DWP website to download the review.