Work Capability Assessments

A man is holding up a board and looking at it thinking. On the board are the words Yes and No with question marks underneath them

After you have applied for New Style Employment and Support Allowance (New Style ESA), the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will decide if you need to have a Work Capability Assessment.

A woman in a suit writing on a clipboard in front of a leaflet about employment benefits

A Work Capability Assessment is to help work out if your disability or health condition affects how much you can work.

A man in a suit holding a pen and writing a letter on a desk in front of him

If you need to have a Work Capability Assessment, you will need to fill in a form called a Capability for Work questionnaire. The form is also called a ESA50.

A woman is standing up, writing with a pen in a file and smiling

You might also have to have an assessment so the DWP can find out more about your disability or health condition.

3 pictures. 1 is a woman talking to another woman on chairs. 1 is a woman talking on the phone to someone, 1 is a video call between two people - one is sitting at a desk

The assessment might take place face-to-face, by phone or by video.

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If you want some help or support, you can have someone with you at the assessment like a family member, friend or support worker .

Two men are sitting at a table talking. One has a cup of coffee and the other man has a note pad and pen.

The person doing the assessment will ask you questions about how easy or difficult you find it to do things like:

standing

sitting

understanding information

communicating information.

A man thinking behind a set of scales which have EASY and HARD written over each of its' weighing plates

You should tell them how easy or difficult it would be for you do these things for a long time and...

A poster with a red cross and a green tick underneath a picture of a woman putting letters in envelopes with help from another person. A woman in a wheelchair next to the poster is pointing to the green tick

if you would need any help to do them.

The assessment will help the DWP to work out if you can get New Style ESA.

If you can get New Style ESA, the assessment will help the DWP to decide which one of these New Style ESA groups you will be in:

a work-related activity group
a support group.

A man sitting talking to someone behind a desk at a jobcentre

If you are in the work-related activity group, you will have to go to interviews with a work coach and get ready to go back to work in the future.

A photograph of a man having an interview. The photograph has a red cross over it.

If you are in the support group, you will not have to go to interviews and do not have to get ready to work in the future.

An A4 notebook with 'Plan' written on the cover.

If you can get New Style ESA you will have to agree a plan before you get paid your New Style ESA money.

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Find out more in the Your New Style Employment and Support Allowance plan Easy Read.