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
Criticism of the Work Capability Assessment Nick Clegg's former policy director added: "Capability assessors too often have a culture of disbelief about disability, especially mental illness". Dr Paul Litchfield helped to design the WCA in 2006 and he later reviewed its performance for parliament. Of the design phase, he said: A review undertaken by occupational heath expert Professor Malcolm Harrington in 2010 found that the test was too reliant on "computer systems and drop-down menus" and "was not working as well as it should" — but he felt that the suggestions he was making would improve the process, if adopted by the DWP. In February 2011,