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,
Employment and Support Allowance "quid pro quo" - as it might be applied to sickness benefit claimants. When responding to the Gregg Review, the DWP said that the study had recommended that conditionality be applied to "the vast majority of people in receipt of Employment and Support Allowance". In October 2008, ESA and its eligibility test, the Work Capability Assessment, were introduced for new claims. Reformers were disappointed to find that the total number of people on sickness and incapacity benefits went "up", largely as a result of the financial crisis of 2008 and the consequent rise in background unemployment. Plans were made to