DWP finally agrees to publish universal credit ‘fit for work’ figures

DWP has finally agreed to start publishing crucial figures showing how many disabled people claiming universal credit are being found “fit for work” after being subjected to the work capability assessment (WCA) process.

Former DWP ministers such as Therese Coffey and Chloe Smith repeatedly argued that it would be too expensive to produce official statistics showing how many disabled claimants of universal credit have been put through the WCA, what level of benefit they received following their assessment, and how many were being found fit for work.

But yesterday (Wednesday), DWP quietly published an update to its statistical work programme which showed it would now be producing the new statistics every three months.

The first set of the quarterly figures is due to be released on 8 June.

Sarah Newton, the minister for disabled people at the time, promised nearly four years ago that DWP would soon be publishing official WCA universal credit statistics.

But those statistics were never published.

The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) told DWP last year – following a complaint by Disability News Service – that its failure to publish universal credit WCA statistics left “a gap in the information available” and that there was a “wealth of evidence around the need for transparency around Universal Credit WCA statistics”.

DWP later produced some limited, unofficial figures in response to a question from Labour’s Stephen Timms, chair of the Commons work and pensions committee.

DWP is now set to produce quarterly “experimental” statistics, which will show how many people are placed in the limited capability for work (LCW) or limited capability for work related activity (LCWRA) groups after a WCA.

And it will show – dating back to April 2019 – how many claimants DWP has found fit for work (now known as “no limited capability for work”) or placed in the LCW or LCWRA groups.

The DWP document says the decision to publish the new statistics was taken to “address the gap highlighted by correspondence with the Office for Statistics Regulation”.

OSR had told DWP’s chief statistician last August: “It is disappointing that, due to circumstances beyond your control, the Department is tolerating this significant data gap.”

Despite ministers launching universal credit in 2013, DWP has yet to provide regular statistics to show how many claimants have been put through the WCA, how long they have had to wait for a WCA, and what level of benefit they received following their assessment.

Even though the WCA system has been closely linked by years of evidence to countless deaths of disabled people over the last decade, DWP only produces official WCA statistics relating to employment and support allowance (ESA).

Most non-working disabled people of working age are now receiving universal credit rather than ESA, which is slowly being phased out.

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