A US company was rumoured to have been given the contract for health checks and assessment of benefit claimants yesterday after critics raised that changing provider won’t fix the problem.

Maximus will be taking over from the unpopular French corporation Atos after signing a three-year contract reportedly worth £500 million.

The group will be responsible for the infamous Work Capability Assessment, judging whether disabled and severely ill people are fit for work or not.

However, Labour shadow minister for disabled people Kate Green MP said that the replacement “won’t be enough to deal with the underlying problems.”

She blamed the government for a “chaotic handling” of the original contract which resulted in a backlog of over 600,000 claims.

Speaking on Labour’s alternative proposals, Ms Green argued that the government needs to “give disabled people a central role in monitoring the tests.”

Maximus has been involved in several scandals in its native US — from mishandling public money to alleged falsification of health insurance claims.