Your Universal Credit (UC) telephone Work Capability Assessment (WCA)

Step by step advice leading up to, during and after your telephone assessment

Before your assessment
During your assessment
After your assessment
FAQs

Before your assessment

If you’re applying for UC you will be sent a capability for work questionnaire, also known as a WCA50 form. It’s important that you complete the form as fully as possible, answering all the questions.

Please make sure you return the form by the date on the letter you are sent. We will use the information you provide on the form to decide if you need to come in for a face-to-face assessment or not.

You may also download the WCA50 form to your computer. If you use the online form, fill it out, print it, sign it and then send it to DWP.

Need help filling in the form?

You can speak to a dedicated advisor on our helpline by calling 0800 072 0222.

Select option 1 for the English language service, then option 2 for our advisory team.

For the Welsh language service, please call our customer enquiry line and press option 2.

Interpreters

Contact Capita at least two days before your assessment if you need a language or BSL interpreter for your assessment. This will help to make sure that we can have an interpreter available for you.

Appointment arrangements

We’ll send a letter with your assessment date. Your appointment letter will have a contact number and information about the assessment. Please read this letter before your assessment.

If you need help before your assessment, call our customer enquiries team on 0800 072 0222.

The customer enquiry line is open Monday to Friday from 8am to 8pm, and Saturdays 9am to 5pm.

Watch this DWP Video on YouTube ’Starting your Universal Credit Claim’

What happens with your support before your assessment

Whilst you are waiting for your assessment to be completed you will receive the standard rate of UC and will need to continue attending the Jobcentre as agreed with your Work Coach.

You can find more information about Universal Credit on GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Further evidence

You need to send any medical evidence or other information you might already have, such as reports, care or treatment plans about you from GPs, hospital doctors, specialist nurses, community psychiatric nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, social workers, support workers, learning disability support team, counsellors or carers.

Things Capita would like to see, if you already have them include:	Things Capita doesn't need to see include general information about your medical conditions that are not about you personally such as:
your current prescription list your statement of special educational needs epilepsy seizure diary your certificate of visual impairment Hospital Passports. This is a written record kept by people with learning disabilities to provide hospital staff with important information about them and their health when they are admitted to hospital. Education Health Plans a diary of your symptoms if your disability, illness or health condition varies from day to day. long-stay hospital information including date of admission, length of stay and the hospital name and address. medical test results including: scans audiology results of x-rays, but not the x-rays themselves	photographs letters about other benefits fact sheets about your medication internet printouts statement of Fitness for Work, otherwise known as fit notes medical certificates doctor’s statements or sick notes appointment letters

Things Capita would like to see, if you already have them include:

Things Capita doesn't need to see include general information about your medical conditions that are not about you personally such as:

your current prescription list

your statement of special educational needs

epilepsy seizure diary

your certificate of visual impairment

Hospital Passports. This is a written record kept by people with learning disabilities to provide hospital staff with important information about them and their health when they are admitted to hospital.

Education Health Plans

a diary of your symptoms if your disability, illness or health condition varies from day to day.

long-stay hospital information including date of admission, length of stay and the hospital name and address.

medical test results including:
- scans
- audiology
- results of x-rays, but not the x-rays themselves

photographs

letters about other benefits

fact sheets about your medication

internet printouts

statement of Fitness for Work, otherwise known as fit notes

medical certificates

doctor’s statements or sick notes

appointment letters

You may be asked for details of the professionals or carers who know the most about your health conditions, illnesses and disabilities.

See the list of professionals and carers

Consultant or specialist doctor
Psychiatrist
Specialist nurse, such as a community psychiatric nurse
Physiotherapist
Occupational therapist
Social worker
Support worker or personal assistant
Carer

Remember – only send us copies of medical or other information if you already have them. Don’t ask or pay for new information or send us original documents. Please write your National Insurance number on each piece of information you send to us.

If you haven’t yet received a WCA50 form, it might be easier for you if you start to gather some of your medical information in advance. The DWP may not be able to continue to pay you benefits if we don’t receive this form in time.

If you cannot return the form in time, contact Capita. There is also a box that allows you to explain why your form was late. If you have any concerns at all about the form, it’s important that you contact Capita as soon as you can or ask a representative to contact Capita.

Proof of ID

You will not be asked to show ID, but you will be asked some security questions.

During your assessment

Audio recording

If you would like your assessment to be audio recorded, please let the health professional know at the start of your assessment.

Before the assessment starts, you will need to sign an agreement that explains how the recording can be used.

If you decide you no longer want your assessment to be recorded, let the health professional know. They will stop the recording and your assessment will continue as normal.

After your appointment, you will receive a link to your recording by text message or email, and a separate text message with a one-time password. The password will expire after 24 hours and can only be used once to access and download your recording. This is to protect you and the information you provided at your appointment.

If you would like a CD copy of the recording, please let the health professional know. We will also keep a copy of the recording.

After your assessment, if you have any difficulties accessing your recording, or need a CD copy, please contact Capita.

The healthcare professional will introduce themselves and explain the assessment to you. They will record information on a computer. Some questions may not relate directly to your medical condition, but to daily activities.

The assessment questions may include:

when your illness or disability started
how your condition changes from day-to-day
how it affects your daily life
how it affects your mood and the way you behave
how you cope with things from day-to-day

The healthcare professional will record information about your pain, fatigue, and the medication you take.

The healthcare professional

Our healthcare professionals are doctors, nurses, and physiotherapists registered with their governing body. They go through a specifically designed training course, approved by DWP.

Be ready for the healthcare professional to call you 10 minutes before the time of your telephone appointment. Ensure your phone is fully charged. Find a quiet place with good signal and no background noise. Think about what will make the telephone call more comfortable, for example using headphones and having a drink of water available.

Bringing a companion to your assessment

We encourage you to have someone with you during your assessment. This could be a friend, family member, carer or support worker. They should not speak for you, but they can help you to answer any questions or explain the difficulties you face more clearly. If your companion will be translating or interpreting for you, they must be over 18. 

If your companion cannot be with you in person, we can add them to the telephone call. We will call you first, so please let the health professional know if you would like your companion to be added to the call. You will need to provide your companion's telephone number, and they need to be ready to answer the phone at the time of your appointment. 

If there are, for any reason, issues with the signal or telephone line, we will try and call you back.

What to have with you:

Any medication you may be taking

Any information from your general practitioner (GP) or specialist which explains how your condition affects you.

Taking notes

You or your companion are welcome to take notes for your personal use. Your notes will not form part of the medical report that we send to DWP.

After your assessment

After your assessment our healthcare professional completes a report using criteria laid out by DWP. This is to provide DWP's decision maker with an impartial, justified medical opinion about how you are affected by your medical condition.

The assessment report will describe your medical conditions and the activities you undertake in a typical day. It will also have the healthcare professional’s observations.

The report is one piece of information DWP uses in deciding your entitlement. The healthcare professional who carries out your assessment does not make any decision about your allowance, benefit or credits.

You may request a copy of the full report from the DWP office handling your claim.

Decisions on claims

DWP makes decisions on claims and will let you know the outcome of your claim – please direct any questions or concerns about the outcome to the DWP office handling your claim. They will know what information they have used to decide your entitlement. Capita will not be aware of this. We have no decision-making role.

Further information

For UC you should use your Journal to contact DWP.