One of the architects of the government's new sickness benefit system has warned it would be a mistake to start introducing it nationwide from the end of this month because of serious ongoing problems with the medical test designed to assess whether claimants are genuinely sick or disabled. 'The test is badly malfunctioning. The current assessment is a complete mess,'
Professor Paul Gregg, an economist and welfare reform expert, said. During the preliminary roll-out of the test, people with terminal cancer, multiple sclerosis and serious mental illnesses have been found fit to work. Since early 2009, more than 240,000 cases contesting the result of the health tests have been accepted for tribunal hearings and, of the cases they hear, judges overturn about 40 per cent of test findings. Over the next three years, 1.5 million people claiming incapacity benefit will undergo a work capability assessment (WCA) to determine whether they are eligible for a replacement benefit, employment support allowance (
The government promised to implement these recommendations before people begin to be retested, at a rate of 11,000 a week. Gregg, who helped design the new
