Select committee: Work and Pensions Committee
Recommendation 35
Second Report - Disability employment gap
Published 30 Jul 2021
Paragraph 168
Addressed to Department for Work and Pensions
Work and Pensions Committee Disability employment gap All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) is not fit for purpose. The fact that a majority of appeals against fit for work decisions are successful is evidence that it is not achieving its aim of supporting disabled people who can and want to work into employment. The assessment process can also create anxiety and distress for claimants, pushing them further away from the labour market in the process. We welcome the Minister’s admission that the system is flawed and needs to change, and we plan to look at this issue in more detail in a separate inquiry. We welcome the fact that the Department has now published its Green Paper on health and disability support. It says that it will consider how to address some of the existing problems with the disability benefits system, including whether it can achieve this within the current structure or whether “wider change” is needed. DWP should use this as a starting point to carry out wholesale reform of the WCA. DWP should use this as a starting point to carry out wholesale reform of the WCA.
From: Work and Pensions Committee, Second Report - Disability employment gap (HC 189), paragraph 168, 30 July 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 22 November 2021 (deadline 30 September 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government says it shares the Committee's aim and is progressing its reforms, but keeps its existing goal of one million more disabled people in work by 2027 rather than adopting the Committee's proposed targets.
- On targets, it says it has "goals" rather than targets, because external factors affect disability employment, and that a 1.2 million goal is "very unlikely to halve the gap".
- On workforce reporting by large employers, it points to a Cabinet Office consultation, exploring "both voluntary and mandated workplace transparency", as "the right next step".
- On Disability Confident, it will review levels 2 and 3 and "consider" how to measure the scheme's impact and success, and says the review will provide an opportunity to seek views on external assessment.
- On the Work Capability Assessment, it says detailed proposals will be set out in a White Paper in 2022 following analysis of Green Paper responses.