6,500 must prove they can’t work

More than 6,500 incapacity benefit claimants in Oldham will be forced to prove they cannot work under government plans to scrap the hand-out by 2014.

The move is part of a cost-cutting measure which will see those who are genuinely ill switched to other benefits.

Those able to work will be transferred to Job Seekers’ Allowance, to save the taxpayer money.

Work Secretary Iain Duncan Smith estimates about 40 per cent of the country’s 2.6 million claimants will reach retirement age by 2014, leaving 1.5 million facing tough new testing.

An estimated 6,510 claimants in Oldham — the equivalent of 60 per cent of the total — will be forced to undergo tough medical tests from March to make sure they are not faking their illnesses.

The Government says it is determined that every single UK claimant of incapacity benefit, currently worth £91 per week to long-term recipients, should be re-assessed, at a rate of 10,000 a week.

Those who pass a Work Capability Assessment will be shifted on to the tougher Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), which all new claimants have received since its introduction by Labour in 2008.

While the sickest recipients of ESA receive a higher rate of £96 per week, the majority, judged to be less seriously ill, receive the same weekly payments as incapacity claimants — but only if they agree to take part in “work-focused interviews” and submit themselves to regular re-assessments. Those who fail the test completely are moved on to the lower Job Seekers’ Allowance, worth £65 per week.

Oldham East and Saddleworth MP Phil Woolas said: “This is an outrageous farce. We were told they were ditching targets, obviously targets only apply to the most vulnerable.

“I have no doubt that some people do swing the lead but to say 60 per cent do is an insult to the infirm and injured.”