SCOTTISH LABOUR has called for the scrapping of work capability assessments, after it emerged that 69 per cent of disabled people who appeal against “fit for work” declarations succeed in having them overturned.

The embarrassing figure is revealed in research published by the opposition party today. It covers appeals for claims first made in December 2016, the most recent month for which figures are available.

Recipients of employment and support allowance (ESA), a form of disability benefit, are routinely subjected to work capability assessments to test their eligibility.

But the assessments, normally carried out by private contractors, are considered punitive and demeaning by disability campaigners.

Last year, a study by academics at Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt and Napier universities found that the experience had, “for many, caused a deterioration in people’s mental health which individuals did not recover from.”

In 2015, official figures showed that, in a three-year period, 2,380 people had died after being declared fit for work.

Scottish Labour MP Danielle Rowley said yesterday that the process caused unnecessary stress and anxiety to people wrongly stripped of their benefits.

“These figures show that work capability assessments just aren’t working,” she stormed.

Ms Rowley said the fact that the “overwhelming majority” of appeals were upheld “simply isn’t good enough” for Scotland, adding: “That’s what happens when our social security system chases profits before the well-being of people.”

The British government is devolving oversight of social security north of the border to Holyrood. Another kind of disability benefit, Personal Independence Payments (PIP), will be transferred to the Scottish government along with 10 other benefits.

But ESA will remain under Westminster control, as will child benefit and the state pension.

The SNP government has said that it will continue with the current arrangement for assessing PIP until at least 2021.

In conclusion, Ms Rowley said: “Tory austerity just isn’t working. These assessments aren’t just an example of cruel policy. They are an example of failing policy and should be scrapped.”