Friday, October 29, 2010

Most benefit applicants fit to work

What is happening in the UK to address the high number of people claiming benefits due to incapacity is probably going to happen here. One of the key changes, possibly picked up from the US, is applicants now have to be privately assessed. No longer will a note from GP, and a sign-off by a case manager suffice.

According to the Daily Mail only 51,000 people have been granted a benefit for long term disability or ill health in two years. That is crucial to fixing the problem. The most important action a government needs to take is not getting people off benefits. That is secondary. It is stopping them coming onto benefits.

Three-quarters of people who applied for new benefits for the long-term sick failed tests to prove they were too ill to work.

Out of about 840,000 who tried to obtain the £95-a-week Employment and Support Allowance, 640,000 were told they were fit for work, or withdrew their applications before they took the tests – suggesting they were ‘trying it on’.


Over the last 30 years the numbers on disability pensions, invalid benefits, etc have dramatically increased in many developed countries. There is now a concerted effort being made to reverse the trend. New Zealand needs to stop dragging the chain and start making similar efforts.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good evening Lindsay,

In March this year you advised me to report my wife for claiming $600 per week DPB on top of the £1000 GBP I was sending her a month, in spite of the fact her sister was a Judge.

She was found no case to answer.

The Gantt Guy said...

Not sure about the legalities, anon, but maybe if you were to send her GBP1,000 less $600, and sequester the remainder in a separate account, it would have the desired effect?

Lindsay Mitchell said...

Anon,I remember our exchange but not all the details. How did you find out there was "no case to answer"?