Ministers ‘ignored advice on inhumane fit-for-work tests’ 

A government welfare adviser has suggested thousands of ill and disabled people were subjected to “inhumane and mechanistic” fit-for-work tests after ministers ignored his advice not to push ahead immediately with plans to reassess 1.5 million claimants on incapacity benefit.

Professor Malcolm Harrington told the Guardian he believed the work capability assessment (WCA) was “not working very well” when the coalition took power in 2010, and he told ministers a big expansion of the scheme should be delayed for a year to enable the tests to be improved.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/dec/16/ministers-ignored-advice-fit-for-work-tests