Work Capability Assessment Tribunal Submission Tool

More help for those who are unable to work because of their ill-health and their supporters and benefits advisers

Working with University House, we have created a new document assembly tool for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Universal Credit (UC) claimants who are not well enough to work, and those that help them with their benefits.

If you are disabled or have a long-term health issue that affects how much you can work, you can claim either the limited capability for work element of Universal Credit or Employment and Support Allowance. When you claim either benefit the DWP completes a work capability assessment (sometimes referred to as a WCA).

The standard of work capability assessments is sadly not high, and charities have raised concerns about the effectiveness and fairness of the process for a long time. Many claimants who appear to have an entitlement to the benefit, either get given no award or are given the wrong level of award by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Unfortunately, as many advice services have shrunk or closed their doorscompletely, it has become harder and harder to get help from a benefits adviser to deal with this problem. Now many claimants and their families have to try to deal with the problem on their own. Advicenow aims to support them.

If you get given a decision you think might be unfair, don’t give up. Ask the DWP to look at the decision again. This is called asking for a ‘mandatory reconsideration’.

In spring 2022, Advicenow launched a mandatory reconsideration tool that helped ESA and Universal Credit claimants who are not well enough to work to ask for one. The tool helps the user work out what they should be getting and encourages them to ask for a mandatory reconsideration if that is not the award they have received. Then the tool writes the mandatory reconsideration request for them, setting out their case point by point. If the user gets tired or called away they can save their progress and finish it the next day. Once they have finished, they just need to print the letter out and send it or copy and paste it on to their Universal Credit journal.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the DWP often conclude that their original decision was correct – even where it is quite obviously not. Don’t give up. It is really important to appeal the decision because it is only at the appeal stage that an impartial tribunal look at the decision to be see if the law has been correctly applied. They often find that it has not and change the decision, entitling the claimant to additional benefit backdated to when they first made the claim. The most recent statistics show that 58% of ESA appeals and 55% of Universal Credit appeals are won by the claimant.

Advicenow have a step-by-step guide to appealing a work capability assessment. It supports readers to understand the process and decide what action to take. It builds their confidence and their legal capability by also showing you what to do at every stage and how to put your case well.

In autumn 2022, Advicenow and University House worked together to build the Work Capability Assessment Tribunal Submission Tool to provide more assistance with the final hearing. The Tribunal Submission tool asks the user simple questions about their benefits claim  and how their health impacts their ability to work, and then produces a submission to give to the tribunal in advance. This submission sets out their case in the same way a benefits adviser would if they had one.

The tool is aimed at claimants and their families, as well as benefits advisers and volunteers. Like everything on Advicenow, you don’t need any expert knowledge to use it. We explain everything you need to know and understand as you use the tool.

It is hoped that the tool will boost the confidence of claimants and their families ahead of the tribunal hearing, and reduce the stress many feel. And that it will help advisers and volunteers to produce high quality submissions more quickly, enabling them to help more people.

November 2022