Criticism of the Work Capability Assessment thereby saving £7billion a year. A reassessment of long-term recipients was expected to start in 2009 but the start was delayed until 2011 while the test's criteria were reviewed. In 2012, the DWP's handling of its contract with Atos was the subject of a critical report by the National Audit Office (NAO). The Public Accounts Committee heard that in that year the DWP had paid Atos £112m to carry out WCAs. The chair of the committee told the BBC that the DWP got "far too many decisions wrong on claimants’ ability to work" and that this came at a "considerable
Criticism of the Work Capability Assessment February 2018 Baroness Altmann, a former minister at the DWP, said: DWP figures show that, between January and November 2011, 10,600 sick and disabled people died within six weeks of their benefit claim ending; many disability campaigners believe that these deaths occurred after — and even "because" — the claimants were declared fit for work. "The Daily Telegraph" has questioned this: it posits that the 10,600 deaths include people who happened to die from natural causes, "after" which their benefit payments ceased. The newspaper said that when the DWP states "within six weeks", this "does not mean 'within the following