Blitz on benefits: 887,000 fiddlers exposed

Nearly half a million people receiving the cash were exposed as being fit for work after undergoing medical tests in a Government crackdown on welfare scroungers.

And a further 428,000 voluntarily dropped their claims before completing the assessments – making a total of around 887,000.

The astonishing figures, released by the Department for Work and Pensions yesterday, suggest that more than £4billion of taxpayers’ money is wrongly paid out every year to workshy spongers feigning serious disability.

Ministers last night seized on the statistics as evidence of the way that welfare dependency and fraud has become endemic in many parts of Britain.

Employment Minister Chris Grayling said: “Once again we have clear evidence of the need for change in our welfare system.

“We now know very clearly that the vast majority of new claimants for sickness benefits are in fact able to return to work. That’s why we are turning our attention to existing claimants, who are simply abandoned on benefits.

“That’s why we are reassessing all of those claimants and launching the Work Programme to provide specialist back-to- work support.

“We will, of course, carry on providing unconditional support to those who cannot work, but for those who can, it’s right and proper that they start back on the road to employment.”

Officials yesterday released the latest quarterly update on the Department for Work and Pension’s drive to test every claimant receiving sickness benefits.

Under the shake-up, those found to be genuinely in need of support are being moved on to the new Employment and Support Allowance.

Claimants deemed to be fit for work are moved on to Jobseeker’s Allowance and warned that they could be stripped of all benefits if they refuse offers of work. Jobseeker’s Allowance is worth up to £67.50 a week compared with up to £94.25 a week for Incapacity Benefit.

The figures showed that 1,175,700 claimants have been put forward for medical tests since the overhaul was launched in 2008 and accelerated by the coalition Government last year.

Around 458,500 people were found to be fit for work, 39 per cent of the total. And 428,800, equivalent to 36 per cent of the total, dropped their claims before the medical tests were completed.

Officials also found that 188,300 claimants, 16 per cent of the total, were found to have genuine disabilities but could take on some form of work if given state support.

They were categorised in the “Work Related Activity Group” and ordered to join the Government’s Pathways to Work programme. It means that 91 per cent of Incapacity Benefit claimants tested or facing tests were capable of work of some kind. Only six per cent of the total, 73,500 people, were found to be too ill or disabled to work. These included the terminally ill, cancer sufferers undergoing chemo­therapy, and people with severe physical or mental disabilities.

They were categorised in the “Support Group” and were entitled to claim the maximum Employment and Support Allowance.

John O’Connell, research director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “The benefits system needs a drastic overhaul to ease the pressure on taxpayers. It should pay to go back to work, not stay on benefits.” The total bill for Incapacity Benefit and other sickness-related handouts is thought to cost taxpayers £12.5billion a year.

Last week, David Cameron acknowledged the growing anger about the number of claimants receiving Incapacity Benefit because of obesity or addiction to alcohol or drugs. Official figures showed that over 81,000 people are on incapacity benefits because they are too fat to work or have drug or drink problems.

More than 20,000 with one of those three problems are among some 900,000 who have been “on the sick” for more than 10 years.