Criticism of the Work Capability Assessment awarded, Atos said: In August, the whistleblower expanded on his allegations in a first-hand account published by the "British Medical Journal". He suggested that the DWP's alleged actions might have been at least partly driven by pressure to "reduce government debt". The DWP's senior doctors made no reply but the clinical director of Atos did respond. In relation to the claim that some Atos assessors had been led to interpret the test's criteria too harshly, she did not deny that the "bogus rules of thumb" had been used in training talks but she said that assessors were expected to follow
Criticism of the Work Capability Assessment 49 claimants. It went on to explain that it only did this if a): it had been formally notified of a death by a relative of the deceased or a solicitor, and b): a link between the death and the DWP's actions had been alleged. The department admitted that these case audits would not try to establish who was responsible for any mistakes, nor would they "apportion blame" to anyone connected to the deaths. Criticism of the Work Capability Assessment The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) is used by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in the United Kingdom to