People applying for disability benefits will no longer have to attend a Work Capability Assessment if a document leaked ahead of tomorrow's Budget is correct.
The information, which has been Tweeted by the boss of the independent think tank The Resolution Foundation, also contains sketchy details about the automation of the sanctions process for Universal Credit claimants.
The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) is staying tight-lipped on the leaks ahead of the budget, but the Resolution Foundation's Torsten Bell describes the scrapping of the WCA as 'easily the most-far reaching change in a decade," although he said that the changes "will take years to implement (we’re talking primary legislation) so this is really a reform for the next Parliament (Government?)"
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The leaked document which Mr Bell has published on Twitter also mentions widely-reported changes to childcare payments for those on Universal Credit. It says: "A Health and Disability White Paper will be published on the day of the budget outlining our plans to scrap the Work Capability Assessment. Under the current system disabled people need to have a health assessment and be found incapable of work to receive additional income support through the benefits system. Scrapping the Work Capability Assessment is the biggest reform to the welfare system in a decade, meaning that disabled people can try work without fear of losing their benefits, and reducing the number of assessments needed to qualify for health-related benefits.”
Currently, people claiming either Employment Support Allowance (ESA) or Universal Credit (UC) who may be unable to work because of health-related incapacity are invited to attend a WCA. The assessment is to see whether they will be placed in the support group for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or considered to have Limited Capability for Work Related Activity (LCWRA) for Universal Credit, both of which mean that the claimant will not be expected to look for work. Both benefits are separate to Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which is paid to help people manage their everyday lives if they are ill or disabled, is not means tested and can be paid alongside employment..
The leaked document also refers to changes to the Universal Credit sanctions regime: "Changes to Universal Credit will include . . . Strengthening the application of the Universal Credit sanctions regime," it says. "This includes additional training for Jobcentre work coaches to ensure they are applying sanctions effectively, including for claimants who do not look for or take up employment, and automating administrative elements of the sanctions process, including sending automated messages to claimants who fail to meet their work coach and take active steps to move into work or increase their earnings."
Benefits campaigners have said whether the abolition of WCAs is good news or not depends on what it's replaced by. "If there is no longer a WCA then how will it be decided whether a claimant will be eligible for additional payments because they are unlikely ever to be able to work?" said a spokesperson for campaigning website Benefits and Work. "Will this be somehow combined with PIP or will there simply be no additional payment for new claimants?"
However, the Benefits and Work spokesperson said that the alleged changes to the sanctions regime world be "clearly bad news".
"UC sanctions are already at record levels, so ‘strengthening’ them can only bring greater misery," they said. "Ensuring work coaches are ‘applying sanctions effectively’ is also likely to be bad news for claimants. As the DWP has for years refused to publish the result of their own research into whether sanctions are effective in getting claimants back into work, it is not clear what ‘effectively’ can mean other than more harshly. And the idea that sanctions notices are going to be sent out automatically by DWP software can only add to the nightmare that claimants trying to communicate with the DWP already experience."
A DWP spokesperson said: "We wouldn’t have anything to add on this at this stage."
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