The government has vowed to press ahead with reform of the welfare state as its latest statistics show less than a quarter of those applying for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) are successful.
Just 6% are placed in the most severely disabled Support Group, where they are not expected to seek work, while a further 16% are allocated into the Work Related Activity Group.
It includes all new claims until the end of August last year and for those WCAs completed by November, but does not include those being transferred from the previous Incapacity Benefit.
However, the WCA has been consistently criticised by disability charities for being too harsh and not taking the severity of injuries into full account while being unsuitable for assessing those with mental health problems.
The figures have remained largely unchanged over the last six months, although changes to the Work Capability Assessments (WCA) addressing some of those concerns will not have filtered through yet.
The majority of Professor Harrington's recommendations are now in place with the remainder due to be implemented by summer to coincide with the first WCAs of incapacity benefit claimants taking part in the full nationwide reassessment.
Chris Grayling MP, Employment Minister, used the figures to reiterate his belief that the reform process was heading in the right direction.
"Once again we have clear evidence of the need for change in our welfare system," he said.
We now know very clearly that the vast majority of new claimants for sickness benefits are in fact able to return to work. That's why we are turning our attention to existing claimants, who were simply abandoned on benefits," he added.
