• And 39 per cent are actually fit enough for employment

By Kirsty Walker

Last updated at 7:37 AM on 27th July 2011

Only seven per cent of incapacity claimants are sick enough to stay on benefits for good.

The results of new and tougher tests show the vast majority are either fit enough to work, or abandon their application half-way through.

All fresh applicants for the Employment and Support Allowance, which is replacing Incapacity Benefit, must undergo the work capability assessments.

Getting tough: A survey has found the that 39 per cent of people who claimed incapacity benefits were actually fit to work, while a further 17 per cent could get a job with some help

Getting tough: A survey has found the that 39 per cent of people who claimed incapacity benefits were actually fit to work, while a further 17 per cent could get a job with some help

The resulting figures, which will reopen debate about 'workshy' Britain, show that 39 per cent were found fit enough to take a job.

A further 17 per cent were deemed able to do some form of work, with the right support.

More than one in three dropped out in the application process and only one in 14 was too sick to undertake any employment.

Around 1.3million tests were carried out between October 2008 and last November – with 88,700 people found completely unfit to work.

However, MPs on the work and pensions select committee yesterday claimed the tests were flawed.

They found that large numbers of seriously unwell claimants had been wrongly refused support and that large numbers of appeals had proved successful.

Helping hand: Work and Pensions Minister Steve Webb said support was available to help people get into jobs, while David Cameron said the Government was producing a system that 'really put people through their paces'

David Cameron insisted yesterday the system was much better at putting people through their 'paces'.

During a visit to Wales, the Prime Minister said: 'For too long in this country we have left people on welfare for year after year when those people, with help and with assistance, could work.

'And so we're producing a much better system where we really put people through their paces and say that if you can work, you should work.

'We'll be there to help you with the training and the skills but what we are finding, and the figures show today, is that only one in four of the people who apply for the new benefit are actually found to be unable to work. The rest are able to work and we're going to help them to get jobs. That will be good for them, good for their families and good for our economy.'

FALSE CLAIMS

Cheat: Benefits authorities captured footage of Joseph Doherty working on a building site while claiming benefits

Last week Joseph Doherty admitted claiming 70,000 in benefits for back pain, despite spending a decade working on a construction site.

Doherty, who claimed he was so disabled he could not wash or dress himself, was caught by benefits investigators acting on a tip-off.

They filmed him as he turned up to work at a construction firm in Manchester where he was working as site manager, earning 22,000 a year.

The 60-year-old was given a suspended prison term and a community punishment order with 500 costs

Labour piloted the work capability assessment scheme in 2008 to check whether sickness claimants could hold down a job – and it has since been rolled out across the country for all new claimants.

Almost all existing claimants of Incapacity Benefit will also be assessed for the ESA by March 2014.

That will see Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance and Income Support paid on the grounds of illness or disability phased out.

Claimants found to be sick are put into three groups: Those who need permanent support; those who might be able to work with some months of help; and those fit to work.

People in the latter category are told to resubmit a benefits application – but this time for Jobseeker's Allowance.

Up to 8.7billion is paid out each year to those claiming on Incapacity Benefit and the Employment and Support Allowance.

The figures were obtained from the Department for Work and Pensions after a Freedom of Information request and included 24.2million for sufferers of 'dizziness and giddiness' and around 2million for those nursing haemorrhoids.

Emma Boon of the TaxPayers' Alliance said: 'Changes to the system are needed so that those who can work are helped to find a job and not left trapped on benefits.

'However, there are those who are well enough to work but see being on the sick as an easy option.'

Work and Pensions Minister Steve Webb said: 'These figures show that many people are able to work with the right help. We have strengthened the support now available, tailoring it to individual needs so they can overcome whatever barriers they face.'


But Paul Farmer, chief executive of the mental health charity Mind, said: 'People found fit for work have not been cheating the system. Rather, in most cases, they have engaged with the system with genuine intentions and been turned down for benefits – often wrongly as appeals figures show.'

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber added: 'The new incapacity benefit assessment is a much tougher test than previously and is designed to save the government money by excluding more people. It is therefore unsurprising that more disabled people have been declared fit for work.'

After almost ten years of Labour rule the number of people receiving sickness handouts for more than five years rose 20-fold.

In May 1997, 68,000 claimants had been in receipt of incapacity benefit for five years or more. By May 2006, the figure had soared to almost 1.5million.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics also showed that between 1997 and 2010 the number of households in which no one has worked rose from 184,000 to 352,000.

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below, or debate this issue live on our message boards.

The comments below have been moderated in advance.

Once upon a time it was an honourable thing to be in work. Nowadays it is just the opposite. Small wonder the country is in the state it is. Far too many do not want just any job, it has to be the RIGHT one regardless. (No to hard work, yes to big pay packet) I was made redundant years back, and to keep body and soul together took whatever was offered. Often I worked for quite a low wage, but I worked. The end result is now a pretty low pension, but by counting the pennies I survive. I can say with pride that I have never had to scrounge or be on benefit. But that is me. Others do not have the same upbringing - the will to be independent no matter what. I don't feel the least bit sorry for anyone who moans and scrounges. Get a life - and get a job, and find some pride.

The real story is 40% of the people win on appeal, this is the real story. Paul, London, 27/7/2011 15:00 You are so right Paul. The next thing our government needs to do is have a look at some of the GPs and doctors who are quite happy to sign the indolent and workshy off sick. Why is it that Britain has more people unable to work than any other country in the world. FACT

Surrounding the school where i teach are a large number of flats - when i take the children in after their lunchtime break at 1pm nearly all of the curtains in these flats are still closed - this is just one small urban housing estate in thousands. We must get on top of this problem - we have created a cultural underclass who consider it perfectly normal not to work and stay in bed all day - many of the children i teach (eight year olds) have to get themselves up and breakfasted and off to school because their parents simply cannot get out of bed.

The real story is 40% of the people win on appeal, this is the real story. There is something wrong if 40% of people are then going to win. 40% get better and drop out. Were these ATOS people bankers a few years ago, how long do they last in there jobs if they are making so many mistakes. DM tell us how much does it cost the NHS, what are the appeal costs?

Not that many years ago the government were on the verge of lowering the retirement age to 60 for both men and women. Had this been done, it would have opened up the job market for our youth. If Cameron was really serious about getting the unemployed into jobs he would do this. But what has he done instead? RAISED the retirement age against the wishes of the people who voted for him. Work till you drop Cameron saying he is putting sick people "through their paces" is iniquitous. Where is the outcry against this appalling unfeeling man who rules over us?

Now it is up to the goverment to ensure that the private sector provides sufficient jobs to soak up the workshy. If there are not sufficient proper jobs for people, then it is not surprising that they remain idle. For most people, activity is preferable to idleness, they just need the motivtion. A significant rise in the national minimum wage would be a good start - that would put money into pockets from which trade would benefit, and there would be lower taxation on businesses, becuse the state would not have to spend so much of benefits (if people were induced to work, then the income levels to qualify for benefits would rise, and if work was available, the state would feel justified in compelling more people to work. Eastern Europeans would be flocking over to take advantage.

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