Tories want benefit claimant checks

Banker David Freud, whose report last year formed the basis for welfare-to-work reforms currently being pushed through by the Government, said the medical checks required to claim IB were "ludicrous" and could be costing the country billions of pounds.

He suggested that the "real figure" of people with illnesses and disabilities which make them unable to work is closer to the 700,000 on the benefit in the 1980s than the 2.64 million now claiming a total of more than £12 billion a year.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Chris Grayling said Mr Freud's comments reflected the fact that the Government had "lost control" of the welfare system.

Only last Monday, new Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell set out plans to commission private and voluntary sector firms to help IB claimants into work.

Mr Freud told the Daily Telegraph he believed Prime Minister Gordon Brown was ready to press ahead with the biggest shake-up of the welfare state for 50 years, and thought Mr Purnell would tackle the problem with "much more single minded ferocity" than his predecessor Peter Hain, who quit last week.

He suggested that fewer than one-third of those claiming IB - worth up to £81.35 a week - were truly entitled to it, while "5% to 7%" - between 132,000 and 185,000 people - were illegally working while receiving the benefit. "When the whole rot started in the 1980s we had 700,000," he said. "I suspect that's much closer to the real figure than the one we've got now."

Mr Grayling said: "What we've learnt confirms our fears that the Government has lost control of the welfare system in this country. We need to target our support on those that really need it, not those that should be back in work. The Government needs to get to grips with this problem now and the best way of doing so would be an independent medical check for everyone."

But a Department of Work and Pensions spokesman said: "After two decades of rising, the number of people claiming incapacity benefits are at their lowest level since 2000. But we agree with David Freud that there are many more people who could and should be supported to move off benefits and into work.

"We are implementing his review and have already committed to replacing Incapacity Benefit and introducing a new medical test that places the emphasis on what work a person can do, rather than what they can't."