Labour’s decision to drop Tory DWP appeal reveals impact of scrapping ‘fitness for work’ test

People with mental distress are “significantly more likely” to be affected by plans to scrap the work capability assessment than claimants with physical impairments, documents released after a freedom of information battle have revealed.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has abandoned plans by the last Conservative government to fight an order to release a draft equality impact assessment (EIA) of the proposals, in the first tentative sign of increased transparency from a Labour-run DWP.

The information rights tribunal had been due to hear DWP’s appeal against a ruling by the information commissioner that it should release to Disability News Service (DNS) the draft EIA, and a draft “costing note” which detailed early estimates of how much the Conservative government hoped to save through its plans.

The hearing had been due to take place on Monday (9 September), but DWP decided that it would now release the two documents, “due to the passage of time”.

Under plans outlined by the last Conservative government to scrap the work capability assessment (WCA) – which the new government has yet to abandon – the extra payment for those currently assessed as having limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) would be awarded instead to anyone who receives both universal credit and personal independence payment (PIP).

This would mean eligibility for the new “health element” of universal credit being decided through the much-criticised PIP assessment.

Those found not eligible for PIP would not receive the health element.

DWP has claimed that those who saw their benefits cut would receive “transitional protection”, but this would be eaten away over time by inflation, and would not apply to new claimants, who would lose out on nearly £400 a month at current benefit rates.

Disabled activists have previously said the “heartless” reforms – the centrepiece of the last government’s Transforming Support white paper – “defy logic” and pose significant risks to sick and disabled people who cannot work.

One concern is that life-changing decisions on whether a disabled person must carry out work-related activity would be taken by jobcentre work coaches, who would almost certainly have no healthcare-related qualifications.

Another of the key concerns, which is confirmed by the EIA now released by DWP, is that scrapping the WCA would also remove regulations 29 and 35 (and its universal credit equivalents).

These regulations provide a vital safety net that protects those who face a “substantial risk” of harm if found “fit for work” or able to carry out work-related activity.

Although ministers have weakened regulations 29 and 35 over the years, they are still believed to have saved countless lives by allowing such claimants to be found eligible for employment and support allowance (ESA) and its universal credit equivalent, even if they fail to reach the necessary number of points through a WCA.

But the draft EIA warns that “men are more likely to be impacted by the change than women, older people are more likely to be impacted than younger people and, because of the exclusion of the ‘risk’ group… claimants with mental health impairments are significantly more likely to be impacted than claimants with physical health impairments”.

It admits that DWP would “need a robust justification to exclude the ‘risk’ group from the new top up and we may need to offer concessions as the Bill goes through Parliament”.

It also claims that the government would mitigate this impact on claimants at risk of harm from being found fit for work or work-related activity “through better access to mental health services and improved employment support, and by the application of conditionality appropriate to their circumstances”.

This “application of conditionality” would be decided by unqualified work coaches who could potentially not even have a single GCSE.

The draft costing note, which is likely to be out-of-date now because of further decisions taken under the last government, suggests that scrapping the WCA would save about £23 million in 2026-27 and £82 million in 2027-28.

DWP has told DNS that the information it has finally released was developed for the previous government at a specific point in time, and was only drawn up for internal policy development.

DWP is still fighting the release of other internal documents, including a secret report that describes the impact of its errors on “vulnerable” benefit claimants, which it admits could have a “negative” impact on its reputation if it was released; and information that would show how many secret internal process reviews were carried out into the deaths of universal credit claimants over the last four years of a Conservative-run DWP.

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