Official figures have revealed that almost 1 million people are claiming incapacity benefit in the UK because of stress and related conditions such as depression, anxiety and neuroses.
In some parts of the country, one in four men of working age is unemployed because of the condition, with benefits increasing in value the longer each claimant is sick.
In 1996, Tony Blair vowed that welfare bills “of social failure” would be reduced.
“Judge me upon it. The buck stops with me,” he said.
However, in 2003, there were 228,000 new claimants for incapacity benefit, and the figures have trebled since 1979.
The benefit can be paid only if doctors agree a patient is too ill to work, but many GPs admit to writing sick notes because they do not wish to act as “health police”.
The UK has an £11 billion bill for sick leave annually, and the Tories claim the government has pushed more and more people onto the benefit to hide true levels of unemployment.
The TUC has blamed poor working conditions for the stress epidemics, a claim that has been disputed by the Institute of Directors.
However, mental health charity SANE has welcomed the recognition of stress as a disabling condition.
The Department of Work and Pensions has admitted there is a problem, but says that nine out of 10 of those on incapacity benefit want to return to work.
Posted by James at March 2, 2004 07:17 PM