Stastistics for DWP acting on Atos Recommendations and Medical Evidence Gathering

The request was successful.

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

I make this request with respect to Employment and Support Allowance claimants assessed via the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) nationwide over the past 12 months.

In turn, please provide me with the number of claimants:

1) For whom a DWP decision maker made a decision that was unfavourable to the claimant (i.e. they were found fit for work or placed in WRAG instead of the Support Group) and in doing so rejected some or all of an Atos HCP's recommendations.

2) For whom a DWP decision maker made a decision that was unfavourable to the claimant (i.e. they were found fit for work or placed in WRAG instead of the Support Group) and in doing so accepted all of an Atos HCP's recommendations.

3) For whom a DWP decision maker made a decision that was favourable to the claimant (i.e. found to have or be treated as having limited capability for work and/or work-related activity or placed in Support Group instead of WRAG) and in doing so rejected some or all of an Atos HCP's recommendations.
3)

4) For whom a DWP decision maker made a decision that was favourable to the claimant (i.e. found to have or be treated as having limited capability for work and/or work-related activity or placed in Support Group instead of WRAG) and in doing so accepted all of an Atos HCP's recommendations.

Additionally please provide me with the number of WCAs that took place over the past 12 months and state in how many of these WCAs, Atos and/or the DWP formally requested medical evidence from a claimant's GP or specialist.

Yours faithfully,

J B Chadwick

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DWP IGS FOI, Department for Work and Pensions

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Dear J B Chadwick,
 
Please see the attached letter regarding your Freedom of information
request.
 
Thank you
 
IGS Freedom of Information Team
 
 

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Ref: 2013-5602

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Work and Pensions's handling of my FOI request 'Stastistics for DWP acting on Atos Recommendations and Medical Evidence Gathering'.

Thank you for your answers to Q1-4. However, with respect to my final question, whilst the information that you have provided on the number of ESA113 forms issued was perfectly satisfactory in isolation, I note that this particular statistic is relevant for ESA 'new claims' and IB reassessments. However you have only provided me statistics for the number of WCAs which took place on 'new claims'. My original request made clear that I wished to compare the number of WCAs that took place with the number of ESA113 forms issued. As I am sure you will appreciate, it is not possible to do this with the information that you have provided. Therefore, please provide me with number of WCAs that took place as a consequence of IB reassessments between June 2012 to May 2013.

Please also clarify precisely what is meant by a 'clerical case' and a 'clerical decision'.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/s...

Yours faithfully,

J B Chadwick

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been accepted by the DWP FoI mailbox.
 
By the next working day your request will be forwarded to the relevant
information owner within the Department who will respond to you direct. 
 
If your email is a Freedom of Information request you can normally
expect a response within 20 working days.
 
Should you have any further queries in connection with this request do
please contact us.
 
For further information on the Freedom of Information Act within DWP
please click on the link below.
 
[1]http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...
 

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References

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1. http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...

DWP IGS FOI, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear J B Chadwick,
 
Please see the attached letter regarding your Freedom of Information
request.
 
Thank you.
 
IGS Freedom of Information Team
 
 

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J B Chadwick left an annotation ()

I've marked this request as successful as all questions have now been satisfactorily answered by the DWP in my view. With regards to the final question, with the information they have provided in their internal review response, its possible to calculate that Further Medical Evidence is requested during about 30% of initial and repeat assessments (make of that what you will).