Criticism of the Work Capability Assessment awarded, Atos said: In August, the whistleblower expanded on his allegations in a first-hand account published by the "British Medical Journal". He suggested that the DWP's alleged actions might have been at least partly driven by pressure to "reduce government debt". The DWP's senior doctors made no reply but the clinical director of Atos did respond. In relation to the claim that some Atos assessors had been led to interpret the test's criteria too harshly, she did not deny that the "bogus rules of thumb" had been used in training talks but she said that assessors were expected to follow
Incapacity Benefit up by the examining doctor and used by Job Centre staff to plan ways to boost recipients' employability, in the hope of returning them to work. This new test was also used to assess some fresh claims for Incapacity Benefit. In 2004, the caseload peaked at just under 2,500,000 then began to fall slowly. In late 2008, New Labour replaced Incapacity Benefit with Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) for new claims and yet another eligibility test was introduced: the Work Capability Assessment. At the same time, capacity was boosted by bringing in nurses to carry out the bulk of the