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Last updated:
19/10/2018

What is the Work Capability Assessment?

  1. What is the Work Capability Assessment?
  2. How do I fill in the health questionnaire?
  3. Will I have to go for a medical assessment?
  4. What happens next?
  5. What is the support group or the limited capability for work-related activity element?
  6. What is the work-related activity group (WRAG)?
  7. Health questionnaire descriptors
  8. Assessment for limited capability for work-related activity
  9. Next steps

If you are claiming Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) – or in some areas, Universal Credit (UC) – as a result of mental health, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has to check that you are not well enough to work and they call this having ‘limited capability for work’. If you have limited capability for work, you can get ESA or UC with a limited capability for work element.

Work Capability Assessment with a Doctor

If you have limited capability for work, you can get ESA or UC with a limited capability for work element.

In this section we refer to ESA, but the same rules apply to UC with a limited capability for work element.

The test the DWP uses to decide if you have limited capability for work is called the Work Capability Assessment (WCA).

Sometimes the DWP do not have to check if you have limited capability for work. For example, if you are in hospital.

They will usually send you a form with questions about your health – this is the ESA50 or UC50 form, or the Capability for Work questionnaire. In this section we will refer to this as ‘the health questionnaire’. You can find out more information about this form in the How do I fill in the health questionnaire section.

When you have completed the form, most people will have to go to a medical assessment.

 

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  1. What is the Work Capability Assessment?
  2. How do I fill in the health questionnaire?
  3. Will I have to go for a medical assessment?
  4. What happens next?
  5. What is the support group or the limited capability for work-related activity element?
  6. What is the work-related activity group (WRAG)?
  7. Health questionnaire descriptors
  8. Assessment for limited capability for work-related activity
  9. Next steps
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