Sunak pledges to end 'sick note culture', saying number of economically inactive young people is a 'tragedy'

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Rishi Sunak has pledged to end what he calls a 'sick note culture' with a new 'moral mission' to reform the care system social, warning about the number of economically inactive young people. people in Britain was a “tragedy”.

But he was forced to deny that the plans – which include completely scrapping benefits for healthy people who refuse to work after 12 months – were just a simple cost reduction.

The Prime Minister insisted his reforms were a compassionate choice as he faced accusations of “hostile rhetoric” and an “all-out attack on disabled people”.

Since Covid, the number of people out of work due to long-term illness has increased significantly, reaching 2.8 million people in February.

In a speech delivered On Friday morning, Mr Sunak spoke of the risk of "overmedicalisation of life's daily challenges and worries", denouncing the fact that people are being "parked on welfare".

The current system is also “economically unsustainable”, he warned, because it spends more money on supporting sick or disabled working-age people than on schools, transport or to maintaining order.

Declaring his reform plans, he suggested that some people with mental health problems who receive Personal Independence Payments (PIP) could be offered treatment rather than money.< /p>

But charities have criticized the proposal. highlighting that 1.8 million people are currently waiting for mental health treatment on the NHS.

The Prime Minister also revealed plans that could strip GPs of the right to write health notes and hand them over to other healthcare professionals.

A post-election fraud bill would also link the Department for Work and Pensions to HMRC “so that we treat benefit fraud like tax fraud, with new powers to make seizures and arrests” and a new civil penalty. he said.

Charity Scope said calls were “flooding in” to its helpline from concerned disabled people following the speech, which it said looked like “a complete assault”.

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Mr. Sunak earlier. insisted he was not downplaying or dismissing the disease, but rather calling for a "more ambitious" approach to helping people return to work.

“We should see it as a a sign of progress that people can talk openly about mental disorders. health problems in a way that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, and I will never minimize the illnesses people suffer from," he said.

"But just as he It would be wrong to neglect this growing trend, so it would be wrong to just sit back and accept it because it's too hard; or too controversial; or for fear of offending. This would fail many of the people our welfare system was designed to help. »

Warning that “some...