Criticism of the Work Capability Assessment group of experts — a professor of psychiatry, a consultant psychiatrist in learning disability, a professor of rheumatology, and an expert in human resources — reviewed the WCA in 2013 and concluded that "the WCA produced consistent results on the whole, and is an accurate indicator of work capability compared with expert opinion". But in the year that the study was published, the firms running back-to-work training for people on ESA said they had "ongoing concerns about the accuracy of the WCA". And in 2014, Atos announced that it had come to the conclusion that "the WCA is not working
Employment and Support Allowance "quid pro quo" - as it might be applied to sickness benefit claimants. When responding to the Gregg Review, the DWP said that the study had recommended that conditionality be applied to "the vast majority of people in receipt of Employment and Support Allowance". In October 2008, ESA and its eligibility test, the Work Capability Assessment, were introduced for new claims. Reformers were disappointed to find that the total number of people on sickness and incapacity benefits went "up", largely as a result of the financial crisis of 2008 and the consequent rise in background unemployment. Plans were made to