The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) is taking action to improve Work Capability Assessments (WCA) by bringing in additional providers, the minister for employment has announced.
This change in approach for contracting providers to carry out the assessments to be delivered on a regional basis is likely to be operational from summer 2014 and will "provide extra capacity to help tackle waiting times."
The minister also announced he has directed Atos Healthcare to put in place a quality improvement plan following a DWP audit which identified an "unacceptable reduction" in the quality of written reports produced following assessments.
In light of the audit the DWP required Atos to put in place a performance improvement plan and will be bringing in new providers to increase capacity.
Measures include retraining and re-evaluating all Atos healthcare professionals, with those not meeting the required standard continuing to have all of their work audited until they do, or have their approval to carry out assessments withdrawn by the department.
However, the DWP said claimants whose report following their assessment had not met the DWP's quality standard were no more likely to be found fit for work, or to appeal against their decision than other claimants.
Mark Hoban, minister for employment, said: "I am committed to ensuring the Work Capability Assessment process is as fair and accurate as possible, with the right checks and balances to ensure the right decision is reached. Where our audits identify any drop in quality, we act decisively to ensure providers meet our exacting quality standards.
"Since 2010 we have made considerable improvements to the system we inherited from the previous government. However, it's vital we continue to improve the service to claimants, which is why we are introducing new providers to increase capacity."
The DWP has also engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers to provide independent advice in relation to strengthening quality assurance processes across all its health and disability assessments.
Atos Healthcare has also brought in a third party to assess the quality of their audit and make recommendations for improvements.
