'The scale of Britain’s sicknote culture was laid bare last night as it emerged that only one in six adults claiming incapacity benefit may be entitled to do so.Figures suggest that only around 400,000 men and women out of the 2.6million who claim the handouts are too sick too work.
It means that more than two million could be receiving the £89-a-week benefit even though they are fit enough to find a job – a figure far higher than previously thought.
Target: An advert warning against benefit fraud highlights the problem. Figures suggests that only 400,000 incapacity claimants out of 2.6m are too sick to work
The official statistics are the first revealed by the Work Capability Assessment, a strict new test that decides whether claimants are fit to work.'
I do not doubt for a moment that there has been massive abuse of this system with some not meriting the benefit in the first place, some having got fully better and some being well enough for non-physical work even though not 100%.
As previously pointed out though, this abuse has been a two way street with a tacit conspiracy between the fraudsters and successive governments.
It is inconceivable that the numbers should be at the current level.
As a magistrate, I saw a succession of wrongdoers, week after week, 'who couldn't be properly punished as they were on sick benefits'. I am fully aware that just because a person may look healthy that may be misleading - but oh, the numbers involved just told a story!
Had we not permitted this as a society, perhaps our nation would not have been quite so attractive to countless immigrants if far fewer basic jobs had been available.
Curing the problem is going to be an absolute nightmare. The vast majority of genuine claimants will want the cheats removed BUT will be intensely fearful that some arrogant official will consign them to the wrong grouping. It is so unfair!
Hiding unemployment figures was the real reasoning behind this. Yet again, our major parties show themselves as being utterly unworthy of our trust.
Those of us who have endured jobs we have hated for large portions of our working lives are entitled to feel some resentment.
I have absolutely no proof for this point but my gut feeling from court experiences is that the bulk of the fraudsters will be found in our ever burgeoning, anti-social underclass.
