Incapacity benefit

The TUC has said that incapacity benefit tests are failing disabled people after the latest results of the government’s incapacity benefit re-assessment tests for Employment and Support Allowance were released.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “It’s hardly surprising that a test specifically designed to make fewer people qualify for disability benefits is passing more people as ‘fit to work’.

“These tests have deemed terminally ill patients and people with severe disabilities as ‘fit to work’, are costing taxpayers a small fortune in successful legal appeals and serve no clear benefit to the very people they are supposed to help.”