If Universal Credit has been introduced where you
live, some of the information in this set of pages may not apply to you
(although in practice many of the things, including the Work Capability
Assessment itself, are the same. For an introduction to Universal
Credit, click here
(Click here if you want to go straight to your further options)
You’ve probably clicked on this link because you’ve had an Employment and Support Allowance assessment and the Jobcentre Plus has told you that you are entitled to Employment and Support Allowance, but have been put in the ‘Work Related Activity Group’. This letter will probably also tell you that you will be asked to attend work-focused interviews and/or undertake work-related activities.
I'll give you detailed information in a bit, but before I want to tell you that this is actually quite good news, although I appreciate it might not seem like this to you. Here’s why.
When the Jobcentre Plus makes a decision about your Employment and Support Allowance like this it is called a work capability assessment. The Jobcentre Plus has three options:
- It can decide that you are fit for work (they call this ‘not having a limited capability for work’. This happens to a lot of people, including people who are pretty sure in their own minds that they are not fit for work. So at least this hasn’t happened to you.
- It can agree with you that are not fit for work (they call this ‘having a limited capability for work’). However it also thinks that, with help, you may well be able to work in the future. This is called being put in the work related activity group. This is what has happened to you.
- It can agree with you that you are not fit for work (again, they call this ‘having a limited capability for work’). It also thinks that there is no realistic chance of you being able to work in the future, even with help. This is called being put in the support group. This hasn’t happened to you.
(In case you’re interested, DWP statistics show that when people are assessed under the Work Capability Assessment after making a new claim for Employment and Support Allowance about half the people are told that they are fit for work, and of those who are told they are not for work, very roughly half are put in the work-related activity group and very roughly half are put in the support group. This information is publicly available at...
https://whitehall-admin.production.alphagov.co.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/200001/esa_wca_summary_apr13.pdf
 If
the Jobcentre Plus has told you that you will have to attend
work-focused interviews, it’s really important to understand what
this means:
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So, don’t worry too much: it’s not (quite) as bad as it looks…
Choose one of the following options:
- ‘How does the Jobcentre Plus go about a Work Capability Assessment?’
- ‘Should I appeal against not being put in the support group: what do I need to consider?’
- ‘How does the Jobcentre Plus decide whether I should be in the work related activity group or the support group?’
- ‘Please tell me about the appeal process, apart from preparing for and attending the appeal hearing’
- ‘Please tell me about preparing for and attending the appeal hearing’
- ‘My appeal was not successful and I want to take the case further’