Criticism of the Work Capability Assessment oversaw the study" and named the lead experts as a professor of psychiatry, a consultant psychiatrist in learning disability, a professor of rheumatology, and an expert in human resources. The review's conclusion was that "the WCA produced consistent results on the whole, and is an accurate indicator of work capability compared with expert opinion". But the following year the firm that had carried out millions of WCAs on behalf of the DWP since 2008 said it had come to the conclusion that "in its current form, the WCA is not working for claimants, for DWP or for Atos Healthcare". The
Work Capability Assessment role is to select the most appropriate descriptor for each activity printed on the ESA claim form that the claimant has marked as being difficult for them in their day-to-day life. To do this, assessors draw on their training in the field of 'functional assessment' — a subspecialty concerned with gauging the practical impact of an impairment on a person's daily life and, in the context of the WCA, on their ability to work. As well as taking a clinical history and exploring the claimant's 'Typical Day', the healthcare professional will make general observations of the claimant's hearing, mobility and