Work Capability Assessment to the DWP and would no longer be allowed to recommend any claimants for the Support Group without asking for permission first. When the doctor asked an experienced assessor where these rules had come from, she replied: "DWP". Both the DWP and Atos categorically denied ever having had any target for getting claimants "off" sickness benefits. However, both eventually admitted that Support Group "norms" were being used nationwide, though they both denied that the purpose of "targeted audit" was to limit the number of claimants placed in the Support Group. Atos said that the audit process triggered by the breach
Incapacity Benefit than 500,000. The Coalition government decided to implement the plan to reassess most remaining Incapacity Benefit recipients. This reassessment programme, which began in early 2011 and was effectively completed in 2016, used an updated version of the Work Capability Assessment. Recipients confirmed as having 'limited capability for work' – often colloquially, but not technically accurately, referred to as being 'unfit for work' – were transferred onto ESA; any found fully capable of work would, in theory, have had their Incapacity Benefit payments stopped and then been invited to consider applying for Jobseekers Allowance (JSA). In practice, many Incapacity Benefit recipients