Labour Party confirms that it would reform the WCA

In an article for The Independent Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Rachel Reeves and Shadow Disabilities Minister Kate Green have confirmed that a Labour Government would introduce new contracts to run the Work Capability Assessment (WCA). The new contract would be more closely tied to the accuracy of assessments measured by the number of times that decisions are overturned, with clear penalties for poor performance. Providers would also be contracted to give employment support to disabled people, and as part of the independent review process the Labour Party would ask the Office for Disability Issues to support an independent scrutiny panel of disabled people to gauge their opinions on the WCA.

There had been some talk from the party over the past 12 months that it would look to take the WCA back in-house, but this article would appear to suggest that it will still look to contract independent providers to carry out the test.