Criticism of the Work Capability Assessment the "written" guidance contained in the 255-page instruction manual issued to all assessors: The foreword to the WCA Handbook states: On 22 July 2013, the DWP announced that all Atos WCA assessors would be retrained, as part of a "quality improvement plan" that followed "a DWP audit which identified an unacceptable reduction in the quality of written reports produced following assessments." In 2006, the New Labour government set out its plans for welfare reform: over the course of a decade, it expected the deployment of the WCA to shrink the number of people on out-of-work sickness benefits by one million,
Work Capability Assessment Professor Harrington once he had submitted his final report in 2012. A year after the policy was announced, the DWP said that henceforth claimants placed in the Support Group after their WCA who have a "severe, lifelong disability" (as judged by the DWP) "will no longer need to be reassessed". Between 2011 and 2013 around 40% of claimants found 'fit for work' appealed to a tribunal and around 40% of those appeals were successful. The total number of external appeals dropped markedly over the course of 2013, although most appellants who reach the tribunal stage now see their 'fit for