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
Criticism of the Work Capability Assessment points after the tribunals had independently assessed their claims. A 2012 study of 28,000 tribunal hearings analysed the reasons for overturning the DWP's decisions: In 2013, the Work Programme firms responsible for training people in the Work-Related Activity Group said that, despite the modifications that had been made to the test since 2008, they still had "ongoing concerns about the accuracy of the WCA". Professor Dame Carol Black advised the government on back-to-work policy between 2006 and 2016. She said of the WCA: "I don't think anyone thinks it has been a success". Conversely, the DWP has said that a