{
 "id": "work-capability-assessments-gb",
 "title": "ESA work capability assessments, Great Britain",
 "category": "welfare",
 "summary": "Employment and Support Allowance work capability assessments started and completed in Great Britain, with the mandatory reconsiderations and appeals that followed, for the claims begun in each year from October to September since 2013, from DWP's statistics on their outcomes.",
 "unit": "count",
 "chart": "column",
 "volatile": false,
 "status": "Accredited official statistics",
 "notes": [
  "Each year is a cohort of claims, those begun from October to September, followed through their work capability assessment, any mandatory reconsideration and any appeal; the latest years' outcomes are not complete, since some of their claims are still in progress, and DWP revises them each quarter.",
  "ESA is closing to new claims as people move to Universal Credit, so the numbers fall by design.",
  "DWP rounds every count to the nearest 10 and each share to the nearest percentage point, the shares (meta, outcomes) of the assessments with a known outcome."
 ],
 "provenance": {
  "publisher": "Department for Work and Pensions",
  "publisher_url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions",
  "source_page": "https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/employment-and-support-allowance-outcomes-of-work-capability-assessment",
  "licence": "OGL-3.0",
  "licence_name": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.",
  "retrieved_at": "2026-11-08T13:23:09Z",
  "raw_files": [
   {
    "name": "page.json",
    "url": "https://www.gov.uk/api/content/government/statistics/esa-outcomes-of-work-capability-assessments-including-mandatory-reconsiderations-and-appeals-september-2026",
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    "bytes": 15911,
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   },
   {
    "name": "table.ods",
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 },
 "meta": {
  "latest_period": "2025-09",
  "outcomes": {
   "Oct 2013 to Sep 2014": {
    "fit for work": 28.0,
    "work-related activity group": 10.0,
    "support group": 62.0
   },
   "Oct 2014 to Sep 2015": {
    "fit for work": 30.0,
    "work-related activity group": 9.0,
    "support group": 61.0
   },
   "Oct 2015 to Sep 2016": {
    "fit for work": 36.0,
    "work-related activity group": 10.0,
    "support group": 54.0
   },
   "Oct 2016 to Sep 2017": {
    "fit for work": 35.0,
    "work-related activity group": 11.0,
    "support group": 55.0
   },
   "Oct 2017 to Sep 2018": {
    "fit for work": 33.0,
    "work-related activity group": 11.0,
    "support group": 56.0
   },
   "Oct 2018 to Sep 2019": {
    "fit for work": 31.0,
    "work-related activity group": 8.0,
    "support group": 61.0
   },
   "Oct 2019 to Sep 2020": {
    "fit for work": 22.0,
    "work-related activity group": 7.0,
    "support group": 71.0
   },
   "Oct 2020 to Sep 2021": {
    "fit for work": 25.0,
    "work-related activity group": 8.0,
    "support group": 67.0
   },
   "Oct 2021 to Sep 2022": {
    "fit for work": 24.0,
    "work-related activity group": 7.0,
    "support group": 68.0
   },
   "Oct 2022 to Sep 2023": {
    "fit for work": 25.0,
    "work-related activity group": 7.0,
    "support group": 67.0
   },
   "Oct 2023 to Sep 2024": {
    "fit for work": 23.0,
    "work-related activity group": 8.0,
    "support group": 69.0
   },
   "Oct 2024 to Sep 2025": {
    "fit for work": 27.0,
    "work-related activity group": 6.0,
    "support group": 66.0
   }
  },
  "govuk_page": "/government/statistics/esa-outcomes-of-work-capability-assessments-including-mandatory-reconsiderations-and-appeals-september-2026",
  "govuk_page_title": "ESA: outcomes of Work Capability Assessments including mandatory reconsiderations and appeals: September 2026",
  "attachment_title": "Data tables: ESA: outcomes of Work Capability Assessments: September 2026"
 },
 "headline": {
  "label": "ESA work capability assessments started",
  "value": 112440.0,
  "period": "Oct 2024 to Sep 2025",
  "note": "claims begun in the year; 27% of completed assessments with a known outcome found the claimant fit for work"
 },
 "series": [
  {
   "name": "WCAs started",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "Oct 2013 to Sep 2014",
     "v": 1207880.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2014 to Sep 2015",
     "v": 1100540.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2015 to Sep 2016",
     "v": 960000.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2016 to Sep 2017",
     "v": 821810.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2017 to Sep 2018",
     "v": 488560.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2018 to Sep 2019",
     "v": 134270.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2019 to Sep 2020",
     "v": 144880.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2020 to Sep 2021",
     "v": 144480.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2021 to Sep 2022",
     "v": 135650.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2022 to Sep 2023",
     "v": 131630.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2023 to Sep 2024",
     "v": 120400.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2024 to Sep 2025",
     "v": 112440.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "name": "WCAs completed",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "Oct 2013 to Sep 2014",
     "v": 798940.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2014 to Sep 2015",
     "v": 753250.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2015 to Sep 2016",
     "v": 657590.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2016 to Sep 2017",
     "v": 557100.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2017 to Sep 2018",
     "v": 335640.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2018 to Sep 2019",
     "v": 84040.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2019 to Sep 2020",
     "v": 64490.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2020 to Sep 2021",
     "v": 69700.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2021 to Sep 2022",
     "v": 75760.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2022 to Sep 2023",
     "v": 76260.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2023 to Sep 2024",
     "v": 72550.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2024 to Sep 2025",
     "v": 62470.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "name": "Mandatory reconsiderations registered",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "Oct 2013 to Sep 2014",
     "v": 107650.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2014 to Sep 2015",
     "v": 92530.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2015 to Sep 2016",
     "v": 91130.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2016 to Sep 2017",
     "v": 68940.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2017 to Sep 2018",
     "v": 35580.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2018 to Sep 2019",
     "v": 6880.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2019 to Sep 2020",
     "v": 1850.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2020 to Sep 2021",
     "v": 1830.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2021 to Sep 2022",
     "v": 1940.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2022 to Sep 2023",
     "v": 1600.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2023 to Sep 2024",
     "v": 1330.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2024 to Sep 2025",
     "v": 1340.0
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "name": "Appeals completed",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "Oct 2013 to Sep 2014",
     "v": 30980.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2014 to Sep 2015",
     "v": 25960.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2015 to Sep 2016",
     "v": 22790.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2016 to Sep 2017",
     "v": 15380.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2017 to Sep 2018",
     "v": 6940.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2018 to Sep 2019",
     "v": 1250.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2019 to Sep 2020",
     "v": 190.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2020 to Sep 2021",
     "v": 210.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2021 to Sep 2022",
     "v": 170.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2022 to Sep 2023",
     "v": 90.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2023 to Sep 2024",
     "v": 80.0
    },
    {
     "x": "Oct 2024 to Sep 2025",
     "v": 30.0
    }
   ]
  }
 ]
}