Gaming the welfare system to get state support for mental disorders such as ADHD is “morally abhorrent”, the health secretary has said.
Victoria Atkins, announcing the government’s crackdown on Britain’s ‘sick note culture’, highlighted the Mail on Sunday’s revelation last week that taxpayers are footing a staggering £292 million a year bill for disability benefits paid to people claiming to suffer from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. mess.
Our investigation also revealed how online scammers are charging £650 a time to complete compensation claims to receive Personal Independence Payments (PIP) for physical and mental health problems.
Ms Atkins said: “This kind of behavior is absolutely morally abhorrent. We want limited taxpayer resources to be used for those who really need them.
She added that “we are working hard to crack down on the kind of behavior your newspaper exposed last week.”
Gaming the welfare system to gain state support for mental disorders such as ADHD is “morally abhorrent”, Health Secretary Victoria Atkins (pictured) has said.
In a historic speech on Friday, Rishi Sunak (pictured) outlined a new “moral mission” to get Britons back to work, saying he was determined to stop people continuing on welfare as a “lifestyle choice “.
The move came after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced reforms which were hailed as the biggest welfare crackdown in a generation, with unemployed people seeing their benefits cut if they fail to find work in a period of one year.
In a historic speech on Friday, Mr Sunak outlined a new “moral mission” to get Britons back to work, saying he was determined to stop people continuing on welfare benefits as a “lifestyle choice “. This could lead to more than 420,000 claimants classified as ill or disabled due to mental health problems – such as anxiety and depression – being asked for work for the first time.
In the future, specialist teams could assess what jobs people can do, instead of GPs who currently issue ‘fit ratings’ to 94 per cent of those who request them.
Ms Atkins explained that physiotherapists had already been added to the list of professionals who could sign “adjustment notes”.
In her interview with The Mail on Sunday, she also welcomed the study into trans medicine published this month by Dr Hilary Cass, which halted the distribution of puberty blockers by the NHS in England after concluding that gender medicine was “built on fragile foundations.” .
Ms Atkins said she was “urgently looking at what more needs to be done in relation to private providers and international prescribing”.
The Health Secretary also waded into the debate over smartphone use by under-16s, saying social media companies “should understand their responsibility to our country, to our communities and to protect children today on their platforms.
Ms Atkins added: “I think the public is becoming increasingly weary of technology and social media companies that seem to put profit ahead of the safety of children and young people.”
In the future, specialist teams could assess what jobs people can do, instead of GPs who currently issue ‘fit notes’ to 94% of those who request them (File photo)
Mr Sunak announced reforms which have been hailed as the biggest welfare crackdown in a generation, with unemployed people seeing their benefits cut off if they do not find work within a year. (Stock photo)
But with speculation growing that Mr Sunak could call a general election before the summer, how long will Ms Atkins have left in the job she loves so much?
“I have so much to do to reform our NHS and social care system to make it faster, simpler and fairer, and so I leave the decision about the general election to the Prime Minister,” he said. -she declared.
At least, with a large majority of almost 29,000 votes in her constituency of Louth and Horncastle, Lincolnshire, the likeable Ms Atkins can hope to play her part in the likely post-election rebuilding of the Conservative Party.
The Health Secretary has backed the Mail on Sunday’s war on osteoporosis campaign.
Victoria Atkins said the push to end the postcode lottery for early detection scans is a “really important campaign”.
Osteoporosis is a degenerative bone disease that affects millions of Britons, mainly women.
But only around half of NHS trusts have fracture liaison services (FLS), which offer anyone over 50 who arrives at A&E with a broken bone an assessment of their condition.
Osteoporosis is a degenerative bone disease that affects millions of Britons, mainly women (Photo)
Speaking following her recent visit to a referral bone health clinic at Southend Hospital in Essex, Ms Atkins said: “They really showed what can be done if you bring together a team of people in a local hospital that include osteoporosis and other bone diseases, and work not only in hospitals but also in the community.
The Royal Osteoporosis Society has made a personal appeal to the Health Secretary to provide £30 million in additional funding each year so that fracture liaison services can be rolled out across the UK to help prevent life-changing injuries.
By Anna Mikhailova
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