In yet another attack on sick and disabled claimants, work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith has claimed that 7 out of 10 disability living allowance (DLA) claimants ‘​fester’​ on lifetime awards of the benefit.

This latest show of hostility to claimants comes after Duncan Smith’​s attack earlier this month on Remploy workers, whom he accused of sitting around drinking coffee all day.

In an exclusive interview for the Telegraph this week, Duncan Smith claimed that DLA had grown by 30 per cent in the past few years because it is ‘​very loosely defined’​ and ‘​lots of people weren’​t actually seen’​.

According to Duncan Smith the result is that:

“​Something like 70 per cent had lifetime awards, (which) meant that once they got it you never looked at them again. They were just allowed to fester.”​

Claimants have grown used to the accusation by ministers that they used to ‘​languish​’​ on incapacity benefit before it was replaced by employment and support allowance (ESA). But the allegation that disabled people now ‘​fester’​ on DLA brings a new low in the prejudicial language to which ministers will stoop to in order to sell savage benefits cuts.

Full story in the Telegraph

Comments

Write comments...
or post as a guest
Loading comment... The comment will be refreshed after 00:00.

Be the first to comment.

We use cookies

We use cookies on our website. Some of them are essential for the operation of the site, while others help us to improve this site and the user experience (tracking cookies). You can decide for yourself whether you want to allow cookies or not. Please note that if you reject them, you may not be able to use all the functionalities of the site.