Too fat to work

Thousands of Britons are officially too fat to work. Government figures revealed more than 2,000 people are claiming incapacity benefit as a direct result of obesity.

There are likely to be hundreds, or even thousands more whose weight has led to severe health problems, such as diabetes, cancer or heart defects, which have made them unfit to take jobs. It is the latest evidence that the country’s obesity epidemic is threatening to spiral out of control.

“Labour has neglected the ticking obesity time bomb we are facing, and now we are seeing the detrimental effects on our economy.”

Last week it emerged that the number of patients admitted to hospital for weight-related health issues has leapt seven-fold in a decade. There are around 2.6million adults on sickness handouts, meaning about one in 1,200 are receiving up to £84.50 a week because they are grossly overweight.

The Government is driving through reform of incapacity benefit, replacing it with an employment and support allowance, and re-testing all claimants to assess their ability to take jobs.

However, there are doubts about how far the shake-up will apply to existing claimants. Tory work and pensions spokesman; James Clappison, said: “Labour has neglected the ticking obesity time bomb we are facing, and now we are seeing the detrimental effects on our economy.

“We urgently need action now, but unfortunately this Government’s record has been one of obesity targets missed and scrapped, budgets for information campaigns being raided, and dithering over food labelling.

They’ve missed the opportunities they’ve had to make a real difference.”

To qualify for incapacity benefit, claimants are given a series of medical tests, known as the Personal Capability Assessment, to determine if they can work. In August last year, 2,130 claimants had a primary diagnosis of obesity.

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman explains; “Being obese does not mean that someone is considered incapable of work. To qualify for incapacity benefits, claimants must take part in a medical assessment. We are determined that people who can work are given the help and support they need to help get back into the labour market.”

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