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thomas davison

Off sick for a decade... with acne or a cough! The astonishing cases among 885,000 benefit claimants
By Gerri Peev
PUBLISHED: 00:48, 30 July 2012 | UPDATED: 00:48, 30 July 2012

Thousands of people have been on sickness benefits for a decade or longer because they suffer from conditions including acne, bad backs and persistent coughs.
Official figures show that 885,100 have been signed off as being too sick to work and given incapacity benefit for ten years or more.
They have a bewildering array of conditions. Nearly 70,000 have been signed off due to bad backs while a further 140,000 have been away from the work place because of �depressive episodes�.

Nearly 70,000 people have been signed off work for more than 10 years due to bad backs. (posed by model)
Ten people have been on incapacity benefit for a decade or more because of acne, while 670 have been signed off because they are obese.

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Some 1,020 have been claiming incapacity since at least 2001 because of headaches.

Figures for the more debilitating migraines are collected separately.
It has also taken 30 people more than a decade to recover from fractured forearms.

Some 20 people have been off work and on benefits with a cough listed as their main illness
More than 12,800 have been claiming benefit for their alcoholism since at least 2001, according to the figures, which cover claims up to the end of last year.

Another 9,800 have been on benefits for their drug problems.
Twenty have been signed off because of conjunctivitis, an eye condition that can usually be cleared up within days.
Reform: Employment Minister Chris Grayling
A further 20 have been off work and on benefits with a cough listed as their main illness and 20 more claimants have been suffering from rashes.
Some 1,300 have been claiming incapacity benefit for a decade or more because of diarrhoea and gastro-enteritis.
Malaise and fatigue � something many workers can claim they suffer from � is the main condition listed for 4,390 long-term sickness claimants.
Most of the 885,000 who have been on long-term sickness benefit for a decade or more had not had any contact with the Department for Work and Pensions since signing on.
The department is halfway through reassessing the 1.5million incapacity benefit claimants to see whether they can be moved into work or need extra help.
GPS 'FORCED TO CUT NUMBERS'
Doctors testing people on long-term sickness benefits were pressurised to minimise the number they find to be eligible, it is claimed.
Secret filming by Channel 4�s

Dispatches programme suggests pressure was applied by Atos, the firm the Government has hired to test whether those languishing on the benefits are fit to work.

Doctors were warned that if they found more than 12 per cent of applicants were eligible for constant sickness benefits, they would be told that �your rate is too high�, according to the programme.

However, a row erupted after it emerged that Dr Steve Bick, who carried out the undercover filming, stood as a Labour candidate at the last general election.

The Department for Work and Pensions said: �While we�re happy for everything we do to be scrutinised in full, we clearly have major reservations about the likely impartiality of this programme.�

In a BBC Panorama documentary, which is also being screened tonight, Professor Malcolm Harrington, who was appointed by the Government to review the tests, says they are �patchy� and that as a result people who are genuinely sick are suffering.
Employment Minister Chris Grayling said: �Reform of the broken incapacity benefit system is about saving lives, rather than writing people off to a life on benefits as used to happen.
�The reassessment of 1.5 million people on incapacity benefit and the work capability assessment we use means we can take account of conditions that change over time. If you can work you will get all the help and support you need to do so.�
He added: �These figures show the scale of the problem and the ludicrous situation that used to exist and why we are right to reform the system.�
It has also emerged that a record 3.2million Britons are now claiming Disability Living Allowance � treble the amount only two decades ago.
This is a benefit paid to disabled people because of the extra costs they face, and many who receive it are also working.
Some 33 new claimants are signing on for Disability Living Allowance every day. The shocking figure of 3,226,790 claiming DLA is more than the entire population of Wales, or six times the population of the city of Manchester.
Taxpayers are now shelling out �13.4billion a year for DLA claimants, the same amount as the budget for the Department for Transport.
DLA can be worth up to �131.50 a week depending on the severity of the condition. A care component of up to �77.45 a week can be claimed and a separate mobility payment can be worth up to �54.05.

I am having a " depressive episode" myself reading this lot. Where do I go to claim? or is the queue full of illegals now getting in on the act.

It would be interesting to find out what the nationality of the doctors were who signed these people onto the sick-------backhanders springs to mind .