Scope responds to report into the Work Capability Assessment

Richard Hawkes, chief executive of the disability charity Scope, said:

“We have yet more evidence that the fitness for work test is broken. The Government has to act.

“Over the last year we have seen High levels of successful appeals, shocking undercover footage of ATOS assessors and horror stories of people inappropriately found fit to work

“Now we can add the Public Accounts Committee’s finding that this debacle is a “considerable cost to the taxpayer”.

“How many more warnings does the Government need before they get a grip of this shambles?

"Most disabled people want to work but they face significant barriers, from a lack of skills and experience, confidence and even negative attitudes from some employers.

"The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) ignores all the barriers disabled people face when it comes to finding a job, because it’s a tick-box test of someone’s medical condition.

"If the Government is committed to getting disabled people into work, and not just off benefits, it is going to have to face up to these problems.

"We need to see fundamental changes to the way the WCA is designed and delivered to disabled people, to ensure decisions are being made in a transparent way and to guarantee people the support they desperately want and need."