Work Capability Assessment to the DWP and would no longer be allowed to recommend any claimants for the Support Group without asking for permission first. When the doctor asked an experienced assessor where these rules had come from, she replied: "DWP". Both the DWP and Atos categorically denied ever having had any target for getting claimants "off" sickness benefits. However, both eventually admitted that Support Group "norms" were being used nationwide, though they both denied that the purpose of "targeted audit" was to limit the number of claimants placed in the Support Group. Atos said that the audit process triggered by the breach
Incapacity Benefit remaining 37% ceased claiming for unspecified reasons in the course of the 13-week application and assessment process; some might have abandoned a weak claim as the assessment approached, others might have recovered from their illness, injury or recent surgery or found a new job - the proportions are unknown. When the unassessed 37% are removed from the equation, the results were: Commentators and policy-makers suspected that a large chunk of people on Incapacity Benefit had got better but had kept this quiet and were still receiving payments. Another, more charitable, view was that recent disability legislation and changes in the