Dan Scorer, senior campaigns and policy manager at Mencap says:

The ongoing problems with these assessments cause huge anxiety, distress and hardship for many disabled people, who are wrongly denied support.

The Committee's report shows that DWP is not doing enough to tackle Atos' ongoing poor performance, with little comeback on the continually high rate of successful appeals and the millions of pounds of public money wasted putting right wrong decisions.

 As we move towards the introduction of Personal Independence Payments in April, the Department needs to get a grip and ensure that the hundreds of millions of pounds it will be paying Atos actually delivers high-quality, accurate assessments.

-ENDS-

For further information or to interview a Mencap spokesperson , please contact the Mencap press office on media@mencap.org.uk or 020 7696 6017.

About Mencap

There are 1.5 million people with a learning disability in the UK. Mencap works to support people with a learning disability and their families and carers by fighting to change laws and improve services and access to education , employment and leisure facilities. Mencap supports thousands of people with a learning disability to live their lives the way they want.

Visit www.mencap.org.uk.

What is a learning disability?

A learning disability is a reduced intellectual ability and difficulty with everyday activities – for example household tasks, socialising or managing money – which affects someone for their whole life.

People with a learning disability tend to take longer to learn and may need support to develop new skills, understand complex information and interact with other people.

The level of support someone needs depends on individual factors, including the severity of their learning disability.