Transformation of the Personal Capability Assessment
The Personal Capability Assessment (PCA) is the process used to assess individuals’ eligibility for incapacity benefits. As part of welfare reform proposals the assessment has been reviewed, to transform it into a more positive assessment of mental and physical capability and of the support an individual needs to help them work. The new process, called the Work Capability Assessments, will be applied to people who claim Employment and Support Allowance.
Healthcare professionals and representatives from Trade Unions, charities and disability organisations have worked with DWP on this review. The outcome is a revised assessment process that:
- re-focuses physical function descriptors and scores, to better reflect the activities and functional capability
- expands the mental function assessment to better reflect the problems of people with cognitive and intellectual impairment
- changes the scoring system for the mental health assessment to provide parity between the scoring for mental and physical function assessments
- improves evidence-gathering in support of the assessment
- develops the work-focused health-related assessment.
Read the Transformation of the Personal Capability Assessment report (290KB) 
The revised assessment has been thoroughly tested. An interim
report was published in February 2007 and the final
report 740KB) in
November 2007. We will begin using the new assessment in Autumn 2008 for
the new Employment and Support Allowance.
