Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Universal Credit (UC) require GP Fit Notes to confirm that someone has a health condition or disability as part of their claim. The functional Work Capability Assessment (WCA) report advises a DWP decision maker whether the individual meets the limited capability for work (LCW) or limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) conditions set down in legislation.<\/p>
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The key difference is that the fit note informs us that the claimant has a health condition or disability and the WCA outcome informs us of the impact that a health condition or disability has on the claimant\u2019s capability for work.<\/p>
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DWP decision makers use the WCA report, along with any other available evidence including the GP Fit Note, when determining entitlement to ESA and in determining if the claimant has LCW or has LCWRA, or does not have LCW \u2013 in other words, is fit for work.<\/p>
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ESA and UC claimants who have LCW and LCWRA are, subject to certain exceptions, required to attend work-focused interviews and participate in work-related activity, the purpose of which is to improve their capability or readiness for work, with a view to helping their prospects of moving into work at a point when they are able. They cannot be required to search for or apply for work.<\/p>
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Once a claimant has been notified of a LCW or LCWRA determination they are no longer required to provide GP Fit Notes unless they are providing evidence to support a change in their heath condition or disability.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4071", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Sarah Newton"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Truro and Falmouth"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Sarah Newton"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2017-12-11", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2017-12-11T17:34:56.81Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "29"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Work and Pensions"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Work and Pensions"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2017-12-06", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Work Capability Assessment"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons work capability assessments are given greater weight than a GP's fit note when a Job Centre considers whether someone is able to search for work or undertake work-related activity.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4243", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dan Jarvis"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Barnsley Central"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Dan Jarvis"} ], "uin" : "118010"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 1, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }