Govt tests the reaction on incapacity reforms

The Daily Mail reports that 889,000 people have been out of work on sick benefits for at least a decade, costing us £81m a week, or over £4.2bn a year.

In all there are over two million claimants of incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance.

The line, of course, is that these are people who have been failed by the system. So the tone of the pilot scheme starting in October in Aberdeen and Burnley is that incapacity benefit claimants will be reassessed "to see whether they can start looking for work straight away or if they need help first through the employment and Support allowance".

Ministers believe that as many as a million of those who are currently claiming to be unfit for work could actually make a contribution in the workplace.

My italics.

There will be a stick too - if you turn a job down, your benefits will be cut.

Clearly flying a kite, the paper reports that the government "is likely to end the perverse incentive which sees those longest on sick handouts getting more money".

Claimants take home £68.95 for the first 28 weeks, with the rate rising to £81.60 for the rest of the first year, at which point the payout increases to £91.40.

The pilots should be worth watching.