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 welfare budget. In 2015 the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) found that no savings had been made to date: the sickness benefit budget remained at more than £13billion a year. Furthermore, because many more claimants than forecast were being placed in the Support Group, the government's fiscal watchdog "raised" its estimate for spending on sickness benefits by one billion pounds a year. In 2016 the OBR said that the reforms had still made no impact on the level of welfare spending — although a simple freezing of benefit payments, so that they did not rise with inflation, had made some