10,850 told ‘prove you can’t work’

OLDHAM’S 10,850 people “parked” on long-term benefits will have to prove they cannot work under welfare reforms unveiled by the new Government.

Benefit rules that make it easier to stay unemployed will be changed — and those who refuse to work will have their benefits cut.

New Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said the benefits system was so “bust” that many people on state handouts viewed those who take up jobs as “bloody morons”.

He said that for too many people work did not pay, and it was simply not sustainable for Britain to carry on spending almost 14 per cent of its national income on welfare.

Details on how the coalition plan to achieve the overhaul have yet to be outlined but there will be a crackdown on benefit cheats and a reassessment of all 2.5 million incapacity benefit claimants, including the 10,850 claiming IB in Oldham.

The benefits bill currently stands at £87bn including tax credits, rising to £185bn once pensions are added.

The number of working- age people on out-of-work benefits reached five million last month, including Oldham’s IB claimants along with 7,371 claiming job seekers allowance across the borough.

Mr Duncan Smith said: “A system that was originally designed to help support the poorest in society is now trapping them in the very condition it was supposed to alleviate.

“Instead of helping, a deeply unfair benefits system too often writes people off.

“The proportion of people parked on inactive benefits has almost tripled in the past 30 years to 41 per cent of the inactive working age population. That is a tragedy. We must be here to help people improve their lives — not just park them on long-term benefits.”

Shadow work and pensions secretary Yvette Cooper said the Government was implementing reforms that Labour had “already set in train”.

She also accused the Government of slashing job chances for young people. Ms Cooper said: “If you look really at what the Conservatives are proposing, they talk about trying to get more people back into work.

“In fact, the only thing they have done so far is to cut £300 million from the employment programmes budget — including cutting one of the highest-quality programmes, the Future Jobs Fund — and that means cutting 80,000 youth jobs at a time when unemployment is too high.”

Details of Mr Duncan Smith’s plans are expected within weeks.