The Advice Network & Training
Partnership (Bradford District)

Registered Charity No. 1105947

Work Capability Assessment - Rules

INCAPACITY BENEFIT RE-ASSESSMENT AND CLAIMS FOR EMPLOYMENT SUPPORT ALLOWANCE: the new Work Capability Assessment (July 2011)

Introduction and background

About 20,000 people in Bradford District receive Incapacity Benefit and thousands more claim Employment Support Allowance (ESA). The government is using the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) to re-assess everyone on Incapacity Benefit, testing whether they are 'fit for work'. The WCA is also the test used to assess new claims for ESA.

Local advice centres help thousands of sick and disabled people who have problems with their sickness benefits. Many of them have had their benefits wrongly stopped. If you work with sick or disabled people of working age, you can play a vital role in helping them to understand the assessment process, ensuring that they explain their health problems fully and get independent advice if they have problems.

IMPORTANT!! Filling in the ESA 50 Questionnaire

If you are helping someone to fill in the ESA50 questionnaire (which asks people to describe how their illness or disability affects their day to day life), you really need to look at the 'WCA main test activities and descriptors'. Click here to see document.

This document gives all the detailed rules that are used to assess what someone can and cannot do. But the ESA50 form does NOT ask questions about all these rules - so you could easily misrepresent the difficulties you experience if you do not also look at the 'WCA main test activities and descriptors'. Click here to see document.

Note: it is a good idea to read through the slides from the ANTP Training course (see below) to hlep you understand the process and the rules.

What is available on this page?

The information on this page is taken from the training course that the ANTP provides for non-advice workers in Bradford District about the Work Capability Assessment. If you are interested in having the course for your organisation, please contact us on: paulinel@antp.org.uk or tel: 01274 597743.

Please click on the following to download a copy of the documents:

• WCA main test activities and descriptor - Click here for document

• ANTP WCA Training Course slides - Click here for document

• WCA hints and tips - Click here for document

• WCA secondary test - Click here for doucment

Where to find more detailed and updated material.

You can find more detailed and regularly updated information about sickness and disability benefits on the Disability Alliance website: www.disabilityalliance.org

The Disability Alliance also produce a detailed and reasonably priced 'Guide to ESA and the WCA' - download a flyer here. Click here for document

The ANTP is supported by
the Big Lottery Fund