They are all fit to work

The sick note culture in Britain must end soon.

Three out of four Employment and Support Allowance claimants are fit to work, according to medical tests carried out by private sector doctors in the biggest crackdown on welfare system in a generation.

Tests found 39 per cent of new claimants fit to work, while a further 36 per cent abandoned their claim before being checked by a doctor, as they knew tests would see them immediately sent to look for a job.

Ministers said figures proved they were right to shake up the welfare system as the current 2.1 million people on Incapacity Benefit costs taxpayers £7bn a year. It would be a price well worth paying if all claimants were actually too sick to work.

Moreover, nearly 80,000 people have claimed Incapacity Benefit for obesity and addiction to alcohol and drugs for several years.

The Government will also test existing Incapacity Benefit (IB) claimants in the next three years and ministers expect 1 out of 3 to be passed fit.

From the 27th October 2008 people can no longer make new claims for Incapacity Benefit, they have to claim Employment and Support allowance instead.

No more Union Jack in Covent Garden?

Tourists in Covent Garden won’t be able to buy merchandise displaying the English flag anymore.

Market bosses ordered traders in the Apple Market area to stop selling souvenirs and gifts with the Union Jack on.

The letter, sent to a number of traders by Covent Garden bosses Capco, reads: "Clarification has been received from Covent Garden Area trust regarding the selling of tourist related items.
"They have informed me that the selling of any items displaying the Union Jack is not permitted from the barrows. Please remove said items immediately."

Traders have expressed their anger over the new regulations: tourists have been coming to Covent Garden for years to buy items displaying the Union Jack, which is a big market indeed.
Businesses have been struggling because of the credit crunch and such restrictions will make it even harder for the Apple Market area.

The order is said to have come after a market official took objection to a handbag which included a flag design and it is feared that market bosses are trying to replace traders on the old-fashioned barrows with up-market boutique-style stands.

Let's get a job!

London has the second highest rate of Incapacity Benefit (IB) claimants in the country, with more than 246,000 people currently receiving sickness benefits.

According to a pilot scheme that took place last year, 32 per cent of these claimants were fit to work straight away and 38 per cent were assessed as able to work with some support.

The Government is prepared for the biggest crackdown on welfare system in a generation and up to 10,000 people's benefit claims will be reassessed each week up and down the UK, by medical tests carried out by private sector doctors. Everyone who has the potential to work will get the right support through the new Work Programme in order to move to the Jobseeker's Allowance list and then back into work.

According to Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, it has always been quite easy to get Incapacity Benefits and once people were on them, they never had to look for a job; many applicants have been on IB for years.

There are 2.1 million claimants all over the UK at the moment and most of them will be tested over the next few years in order to be scratched from the list of benefit fraudsters.