The following details have been supplied by the TUC:
British workers are among the worst protected in terms of benefits if they are off work sick, according to a new report. A study of 12 countries by Demos put Britain in eighth place in the level of protection in case of ill-health, below countries including France, Germany, the United States and Canada. 'Of mutual benefit', produced by the think tank's 'Progressive Conservatism Project', said savers and homeowners were 'penalised' by means testing for savings above £16,000 if they were off work ill. Max Wind-Cowie, author of the report, said: 'Our welfare system is badly broken, and with people living and working longer we need to make sickness and disability support sustainable. The squeezed middle get a raw deal - contributing to a so-called safety net that can't protect them from financial shocks.' The report notes: 'Successive efforts to reform the way in which incapacity benefits are assessed and paid in the UK have played on a suspicion that many who claim them are 'scroungers' and 'benefit cheats' to justify increased conditionality and more stringent testing. But the truth is that incapacity benefits in the UK are not only low but also insufficient for most people's financial needs. They may be hugely expensive overall, but they are relatively ungenerous at the individual and household level.' Demos describes itself as the 'leading centre of progressive Conservative thinking in the UK.'
