"Working the System"

From the Times;

Frank Field, a former Social Security Minister, said last night that too many people were working the incapacity benefit system to avoid work. “It is a racket, which governments have allowed to exist for far too long. I do not blame people for working the system, it is the job of politicians to stop them doing it.”

Mr Field added that because job seeker’s allowance is lower than incapacity benefit, there was an incentive for people to try to be classified for the higher benefit.

The number on incapacity benefit has more than trebled since 1979 but in recent years it has been broadly stable at about 2.7 million. In the past 12 years, however, there has been a dramatic shift in the illnesses for which people are being given the benefit: 40 per cent now claim for mental health problems compared with just 20 per cent in 1995.

Mr Field said: “The big change over the last decade has been into illnesses which largely defy a clear medical classification: depression, dizziness and such. It is a move from the tangible illness to the intangible.”

NZ politicians take comfort from the fact that other countries have the same problem as ours. But there are differences. The number on a sickness or invalid benefit has more than just trebled since 1979. The increase is nearer six-fold. Whereas in the UK the numbers have stabilized, here they have not. But in terms of classification we are seeing the same trends;

Incapacity group Proportion of working aged Invalid’s Benefit recipients

Psychological or psychiatric conditions 27.8

Intellectual disability 14.1

Musculo-skeletal system disorders 12.7

Nervous system disorders 8.1

Cardio-vascular disorders 7.0

Accidents 6.8

Cancer and congenital conditions 6.8

Other disorders and conditions 16.7

Total 100.0


Incapacity group Proportion of working aged Sickness Benefit recipients

Psychological or psychiatric conditions 37.0

Musculo-skeletal system disorders 16.2

Accidents 9.4

Cardio-vascular disorders 5.8

Pregnancy-related conditions 2.8

Other disorders and conditions 28.8


Total 100.0

Underneath the Times article is this comment. Pathetic. Pathetic because the writer can only see a government-based solution.

Mental illnesses are a genuine reason not to be able to work. As a sufferer of clinical depression and Anorexia Nervosa, I can safely say there have been times when I would have been totally unable to do any job satisfactorily because of my illnesses.

Depression and anxiety disorders can be crippling. And eating disorders are life-threatening illnesses which can leave people unable to work long-term. I know people who have suffered from eating disorders for decades.

I was flatly told by the doctors that I was unfit to take up my place at university or have even a part-time job. I'm not even allowed to do a lot of walking because I have to keep my weight up, so why shouldn't I be allowed incapacity benefit? And yet I had to get private treatment because I'm not ill enough for the NHS.

At the end of the day if the government put more money into PREVENTING obesity and TREATING mental illness, they wouldn't HAVE to pay those people benefits.