Criticism of the Work Capability Assessment OBR confirmed that the reforms themselves had done nothing to reduce levels of welfare spending — although a simple freezing of benefit payments, so that they did not rise with inflation, had limited the extent of fiscal failure. But in fiscal year 2016-17, the budget in question had nevertheless risen to £15 billion a year. In 2016, the NAO published another evaluation of the DWP's disability assessment contracts: it said the cost of each WCA had risen from £115 under Atos to £190 under Maximus, to no benefit to the Exchequer. A former chief economist at the DWP, Professor Jonathan
Incapacity Benefit medical assessments using a new semi-structured interview technique, with the findings recorded in digital format. This meant that from 2008, most new claims were scrutinised by a healthcare professional; those whose claims reached the threshold for eligibility were granted ESA - either shortly after the initial assessment, following an internal review of the initial decision, or after an external appeal. After the introduction of ESA, the number of remaining Incapacity Benefit recipients dwindled (largely as people came off the benefit for reasons such as reaching the State Pension age): by early 2011, the Incapacity Benefit caseload had shrunk by more