Sunak targets Britain’s ‘sick note culture’

Rishi Sunak has returned to one of his pet bugbears: getting the unemployed back into work. His speech to the Centre for Social Justice this morning was peppered with his favourite facts about the post-pandemic welfare crisis embroiling Britain.

The number on long-term sickness benefits has jumped by a third since Covid and now stands at an eye-watering 2.8 million. Those claiming personal independence payments has doubled from 2,200 new awards a month in 2019 to 5,300 in 2023. Spending on benefits for people of working age with a disability or health condition has duly increased by almost two-thirds to £69 billion. He said, bluntly, that Britain ‘cannot afford’ the current system which is ‘not fair on taxpayers.’

His remedy is, in part, to end Britain’s ‘sick note culture’ by making it harder to get fit notes from doctors. A new system will therefore be trialed in parts of the country to see if the existing system of GPs’ referrals should be replaced by specialist teams linked to the benefits system.