Guidance

Universal Credit Work Capability Assessment statistics: release strategy

Updated 14 March 2024

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

1. Introduction

This release strategy acts as the formal notice of the :

• confirmed and proposed developments for Universal Credit Work Capability Assessment Official Statistics
• confirmed and proposed developments to the statistics over time

This strategy has been designed to ensure that statistics are placed into the public domain in a clear and orderly way.

In Spring 2023, the Chief Statistician for the Department and Work and Pensions (DWP) led and internal review of all experimental official statistics produced by DWP. This is in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The review found that it was appropriate to remove the experimental label from this publication because it was concluded that the statistics are suitable and of public value. As of 14 September 2023, these statistics are now classed as ‘Official Statistics’.

2. User engagement

The department engages with users in the following ways:

• DWP statistics user engagement strategy

• DWP statistical work programme

• Stat-Xplore platform and user queries

• Freedom of Information requests related to DWP statistics

• Direct user feedback

3. Initial release of statistics

The initial release of Universal Credit Work Capability Assessment statistics was published on 8 June 2023.

These are quarterly Official Statistics to complement the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) WCA statistics, on the number of people on Universal Credit (UC) Work Capability Assessment (WCA) by: stage of process and monthly decisions and outcomes.

The initial release of statistics covered:

• caseload – the number of people on Universal Credit with a health condition or disability restricting their ability to work (UC health) by:
  • stage of assessment: pre-WCA or with limited capability for work (LCW) or limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA)
  • month (from April 2019 to March 2023)
  • age at caseload date
  • gender
  • Great Britain and standard geographical area
  • Terminally ill
• number of DWP Universal Credit WCA decisions by:
  • outcome (no limited capability for work (NLCW), limited capability for work (LCW), limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA)
  • month (from April 2019 to February 2023)
  • Great Britain and standard geographical area

See the background and methodology document for detailed explanations of terminology.

4. Proposed developments to the statistics and timeline

The UK Statistics Authority code of practice for official statistics states that ‘Users of statistics and data should be at the centre of statistical production; their needs should be understood, their views sought and acted on, and their use of statistics supported.

To understand user views and best meet those needs, we would like your feedback on the development of these new statistics. Proposed developments are summarised here:

Phase 2

• ESA migrated claims to UC WCA

• initial and repeat claims to UC WCA

• UC WCA decisions by medical conditions derived from International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD10) high level codes

We have successfully concluded discovery work and have pre-announced within the latest statistics bulletin our plans to publish a limited set of breakdowns by International Classification of Disease codes (ICD10) of the medical conditions of claimants undertaking a UC WCA. These statistics were released on 14 March 2024.

Phase 3

• number of UC WCA Mandatory Reconsiderations registrations and clearances

• outcome of UC WCA Mandatory Reconsiderations

• ethnicity breakdowns

Phase 4

• number of UC WCA Appeals by stage of process and outcome

• UC WCA clearance times

5. Feedback

We welcome user feedback on plans for the release of these new statistics and their scope.

Comments and queries about the statistics are welcome and can be sent by email to: stats.consultation-2018@dwp.gov.uk.