Member Article

New medical test to assess work capability

A new medical test that will score a person’s capability to work has been announced by the Department of Work and Pensions in a bid to end sick-note Britain.

The new test has been designed to be more robust, accurate and fairer than the current Personal Capability Assessment, which is weighted more towards a person’s physical disability and bases itself around assessing people’s incapability for work.

Called the Work Capability Assessment, fifty per cent of those who take the assessment will not pass it, meaning that 20,000 fewer people a year will enter ‘sickness’ benefits as a result, and will instead be given the support and skills they need to get a job.

The assessment will look at people’s physical and mental ability, such as learning disabilities and other similar conditions. It will assess what an individual can do - rather than can’t do. For example you will no longer score points simply because you are unable to walk more than 400 metres. Instead the new test will look at things like a person’s ability to use a computer keyboard or a mouse, because this type of task is likely to be needed in the workplace.

The measures are being introduced as part of the Government’s commitment to making sure that with the right support, everyone has the opportunity to go to work, even if they have a health condition or disability. There are currently 2.64 million working age people claiming incapacity benefits, which cost the country nearly twelve and a half billion pounds in 2006/7.

Work and Pensions Secretary Peter Hain said: “We know that many people want to work - work is good for you and your long-term well-being and we don’t think it’s right that in the past people were effectively written off. We want to work with people to get them back into jobs and help them stay there.

“Currently, there are many people sitting at home in the belief that they are unemployable, with no life choices or long-term prospects because they do not think their illness or medical conditions can be catered for in the workplace. But this is just not the case - many people with such conditions are perfectly able to take up successful careers, if the right support is in place.”

The test will be introduced in October 2008.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .