Incapacity payment figures revealed (From The Northern Echo)

Incapacity payment figures revealed

1:04am Monday 23rd June 2008 in

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ALMOST half of people claiming incapacity benefit in a North-East community have been receiving payments for more than a decade, it was revealed yesterday.

A total of 42 per cent of claimants in the Easington parliamentary constituency, in County Durham, have been receiving payments for more than ten years - the highest figure in the country.

Conservative shadow Work and Pensions secretary Chris Grayling, who obtained the figures in Parliament, said: "Sometimes you have to wonder what the point of a Labour Government has been.

"Despite all the grandiose promises and the billions of pounds that have been spent, they've delivered virtually no improvement for the most vulnerable in our society.

"Something really has to change."

The statistics reveal 806,630 people - nearly a third of those claiming incapacity benefits - have done so for more than a decade.

Five of the worst scoring constituencies were in the North-West of England.

Mr Grayling's comments came two days after James Purnell, the Work and Pensions Secretary, visited the North-East and hailed the Government's record on getting disabled people back into work.