MPs hold WCA evidence session

The Work and Pensions Committee is holding a final oral evidence session for its inquiry into Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Work Capability Assessments (WCA).

Present for the Department for Work and Pensions are:

• Rt Hon Mike Penning MP, Minister of State for Disabled People
• Jason Feeney CBE, Benefits Director
• James Bolton, Deputy Director, Health and Wellbeing Directorate
• Iain Walsh, Deputy Director, Working Age Benefits Division

The session is considering:

• The effectiveness of the WCA, including the findings of the Evidence Based Review
• Key concerns about the delivery of the WCA by Atos, and how these issues may be resolved with the new provider
• The ESA decision-making process
• ESA outcomes and reassessments
• Mandatory reconsideration and appeals
• The interaction between ESA and Universal Credit

You can view this session as it happens or from the start at http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=15504

Note: The Work and Pensions Committee also held an ESA/WCA evidence on Monday 9 June.

The witnesses were:

• Lisa Coleman, Senior Vice President, Health Market, Atos
• Dr Angela Graham, Clinical Director, Atos Healthcare
• Helen Hall, Head of Communications and Customer Relations, Atos Healthcare

The session considered:

• Atos’s role in the process before the face to face assessment and claimants’ experience of the process
• The design and delivery of the WCA
• The contract for delivering the WCA, including the relationship between quality and productivity, and Atos’s early exit from the contract
• The ESA decision-making process, including outcomes and appeals
• Future delivery of the WCA

You can view this session at http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=15486