Criticism of the Work Capability Assessment the "written" guidance contained in the 255-page instruction manual issued to all assessors: The foreword to the WCA Handbook states: On 22 July 2013, the DWP announced that all Atos WCA assessors would be retrained, as part of a "quality improvement plan" that followed "a DWP audit which identified an unacceptable reduction in the quality of written reports produced following assessments." In 2006, the New Labour government set out its plans for welfare reform: over the course of a decade, it expected the deployment of the WCA to shrink the number of people on out-of-work sickness benefits by one million,
Incapacity Benefit following year Tony Blair appointed David Freud, a former vice-chairman of investment banking at UBS, as an advisor on out-of-work benefit reform. Freud's 2007 report called for the greater use of private sector companies who would be paid by results, and for substantial resources to be made available to help people on Incapacity Benefit back into work. In 2008 a Green Paper was published, which James Purnell said was "inspired by the reforms proposed by David Freud". It declared that "between 2009 and 2013, all Incapacity Benefit claimants will be reassessed using a medical assessment called the Work Capability Assessment