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 pilot studies overstated the percentage of claimants who were capable of finding a job. With the passage of time, experience showed that the vast majority of Incapacity Benefit recipients also met the more stringent criteria for ESA as well, and the combined total of people on these benefits hardly changed between 2008 and 2015. Furthermore, the generic rehabilitation programme for those on ESA who were considered to be able to work in the future – the Work Programme – proved largely ineffective in returning them to work. In February 2005, the BBC analysed New Labour's record on welfare reform: The