Criticism of the Work Capability Assessment ideation being described on the claim form. The coroner wrote to the DWP in January 2014. She was concerned that neither the Atos doctor nor the DWP decision-maker had sought information from Michael O'Sullivan's own doctors. The DWP wrote back, referring to the guidance issued to the Atos healthcare professionals who, before face-to-face assessments, scrutinised the paperwork submitted by claimants — guidance called the "Training and Development ESA Filework Guidelines". The DWP confirmed that suicidal thoughts had been described on Michael O'Sullivan's application form but said "further evidence was not requested in line with the stated policy [in the "Training
Criticism of the Work Capability Assessment Portes, has described the use of the WCA to reassess long-term recipients of sickness benefits as "the biggest single social policy failure of the last fifteen years". The WCA's designers acknowledged that being found fit for work and ineligible for sickness benefit could, in some circumstances, harm a recipient's physical or mental health. For this reason, one of the WCA's eligibility criteria — the descriptor Substantial Risk — applies where there is, on balance, more than a small risk of harm if the claimant were to be declared 'fit for work'. The deployment of the WCA since 2010 has been