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New TUC report on proposed incapacity benefit changesA new TUC report, ‘Defending Incapacity Benefit’, challenges the myth that incapacity benefit supports millions of people who have chosen not to work.
The report goes on to say that the vast majority of the 1.5 million who receive invalidity benefit are either too ill to work without suffering real pain and fatigue, or want to work but cannot find a job, often due to employer prejudice.
People on incapacity benefit receive an average of only £85 per week. The benefit has fallen in value to less than a fifth of average earnings. In addition, the numbers of claimants has been falling consistently for the past decade and it is estimated that less than one in a hundred claims are fraudulent.
The TUC would rather build on government pilot projects that help rather than force claimants back into work. These pilots have doubled the number of job placements. If the programme were rolled out nationally, as the TUC is suggesting, it would fill 110,000 jobs a year and save £110 million annually.
The report has been sent to the new Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Alan Johnson MP who is currently examining welfare reform,
