Plans to change the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Work Capability Assessment are “unlawful,” the High Court has ruled – but the Labour Party will continue with it anyway, it says. The government and DWP have reacted to the High Court ruling on Thursday (January 16).
The court said the move was launched by the previous government “despite not having any evidence base to support the proposed changes”. In the autumn of 2023 the DWP announced plans to change the way the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) was scored.
The test deems whether someone with a health condition or disability is fit to work. “The judge has found the previous government failed to adequately explain their proposals. As part of wider reforms that help people into work and ensure fiscal sustainability, the government will re-consult on the WCA descriptor changes, addressing the shortcomings in the previous consultation, in light of the judgment,” the DWP has said.
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“The government intends to deliver the full level of savings in the public finances forecasts.” Ellen Clifford, a disability rights campaigner who brought the legal action, argued the process did not provide people with sufficient information or time to respond to the proposals.
It is not clear if Labour will consult on all the proposals in the original consultation, some of which were subsequently dropped, or whether it will only consult on the proposals that the last government chose to take forward.
Campaigners have long argued that the proposals were primarily a cost-saving measure, and that the employment opportunities for claimants were overstated. The High Court had been told that if the proposals become law, 424,000 people a year will receive lower rates of benefit, reducing disability benefit expenditure by £1.4 billion per year by 2028-29.
The Office for Budgetary Responsibility has estimated that only 3% of claimants affected would be able to move into work.