Criticism of the Work Capability Assessment OBR confirmed that the reforms themselves had done nothing to reduce levels of welfare spending — although a simple freezing of benefit payments, so that they did not rise with inflation, had limited the extent of fiscal failure. But in fiscal year 2016-17, the budget in question had nevertheless risen to £15 billion a year. In 2016, the NAO published another evaluation of the DWP's disability assessment contracts: it said the cost of each WCA had risen from £115 under Atos to £190 under Maximus, to no benefit to the Exchequer. A former chief economist at the DWP, Professor Jonathan
Work Capability Assessment Work Capability Assessment The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) is the test used by the British Government's Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to decide whether welfare claimants are entitled to sickness benefits. The WCA was introduced in 2008. Prior to this, only a small number of Incapacity Benefit claimants were required to undergo assessment. In its last term of office New Labour began to phase out Incapacity Benefit and replace it with a new benefit: Employment and Support Allowance. The policy objectives for the new test were: to accentuate the positive by "looking at what you "can" do, not what