WCA50 replaces UC50

Details: Published: 25 November 2025

The WCA50 capability for work questionnaire replaced the UC50/ESA50 form from 24 November 2025.

Although the DWP announced the change some time ago, they did not provide advance copies of the new form to allow guidance to be updated. However, the changes appear to be mainly in the order of the questions with some changes to wording.

The activities are now listed in the following order:

Eating and drinking
Moving around and using steps
Standing and sitting
Reaching
Picking up and moving
Manual dexterity
Communicating – speaking, writing and typing
Communicating – hearing and reading
Getting around safely
Controlling your bowels and bladder
Staying conscious when awake
Learning how to do tasks
Awareness of hazards and danger
Starting and finishing tasks
Coping with changes
Going out
Coping with social situations
Behaving appropriately

If you were sent an old version of the form, you can still complete and return it, you do not need to use the new form.

The new WCA50 can be downloaded and filled in by hand or saved and completed on a desktop or laptop computer. The DWP warn that it cannot be completed using a mobile phone or a tablet.

Members can download a 150 page, step-by-step guide to completing the WCA50 from this page.

You can download a copy of the WCA50 from this page.

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Helena · 12 days ago
The form doesn't seem to include mental health, going from that list.
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D · 17 days ago
This seems much tougher than the previous esa50/uc50, esp at the beginning of the doc as the wca50 give you zero space to explain how your disability effects you and they seem to have cut space to respond in detail for other areas and narrow eligibility for section points by asking more questions and being more specific in definition.

The dwp may have had to u turn on cut over the summer but this this tightening uc criteria under the radar - its sneaky and cruel and I hope that charities & activists can publish guidance soon
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  Scotchdee · 12 days ago
  
  @D I had this new form don’t forget box 101 if you need to add extra information to any question write it there and you can add extra paper and put your NI number and name on every page, so going through questions a lot overlapped with other questions and I had an A4 pad I just put question whatever and wrote what I needed to put and on questions I put see extra pages question 101, and did that through all, I had 13 pages by the time I finished so I didn’t miss a thing as my last year 2024 was so very hectic with both parents passing away and they were 800 miles away and I had to rely on my son driving to and from and my daughter who is also my carer had to come with me and pay hotels etc so my pip was deadly important last year into this year as for 14 months I was to and from multiple times even after they passed, I had to sort out financials etc and still dealing with it, hopefully it will be sorted by Xmas and I won’t have to travel there again, I could not have done it if it were not for my kids, and friends and relatives helping me, it was a horrific time, and now since being back, I have had 2 operations and waiting on another 2 so keep notes of everything and fill up that 101 box and if your repeating yourself which I had a lot of, just put it all in and what you can’t get in stick it on a piece of paper
  
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Iggly · 19 days ago
If you can't even get 10m on your best day which box do you tick for the moving around question? Would you have to tick it varies and explain in the box or write it in underneath?
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  jace · 19 days ago
  
  @Iggly You don't have to tick any of the boxes, Iggly, but you do have to explain your difficulties. Start with something like 'I can't tick any of your boxes because none of them apply to me... '
  Remember that this question is about mobilising, without help from others, using a manual wheelchair if appropriate - and whether you have one or not! So if you could not manage to turn those big wheels by hand, or not manage to do it for 50 metres or more, tell them, and tell them why.
  
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