Fit enough to call sick

London: The scale of Britain's sick note culture was laid bare recently as it emerged that only one in six adults claiming incapacity benefit may be entitled to do so.

Figures suggest that only around 400,000 men and women out of the 2.6 million who claim the handouts are too sick too work.

It means that more than two million could be receiving the £89-a-week benefit even though they are fit enough to find a job — a figure far higher than previously thought.

The official statistics are the first revealed by the Work Capability Assessment, a strict new test that decides whether claimants are fit to work.

Of the 200,000 adults so far put up for assessment, it was found that more than a third of those on incapacity benefit were not entitled to claim it.

A further 38 per cent stopped claiming the benefit halfway through their assessment. Eleven per cent were found to be able to undertake some work-related activity but qualified for incapacity benefit, while just 5 per cent of people were too sick to work at all.