Almost 880,000 Universal Credit sickness assessments since 2019 recorded the claimant’s mental condition as simply ‘Mental Health Problem’. So no anxiety, no depression, and no more specific diagnosis at all…
For 143,100 of them, it was the only condition recorded of any kind. Does exasperation count?
The figures, covering Work Capability Assessment decisions on new UC claims between April 2019 and March 2026, come from parliamentary answers to Shadow Cabinet minister Neil O’Brien.
Since January 2022, 546,100 decisions have recorded ‘Musculoskeletal problem’, more than five times the next condition, ‘Back Problem’, at 99,200. Coming next are ‘Hand problem’ at 52,400, ‘Leg Problem’ at 46,600 and ‘Arm Problem’ at 30,100. No more specifics needed…
The DWP says assessors can stop recording conditions once a claimant meets a single qualifying descriptor, and that the figures represent decisions rather than people. So the system can award the top rate without anyone writing down what is actually wrong…
The welfare and benefits bill is projected to reach £408.6 billion by 2030–31. Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden is currently trying to get the bill down without reducing payments, by talking up ‘side hustle’ jobs for example. Oh boy…
Robert Jenrick on the Today programme:
“Can you now give a guarantee to your listeners this morning that no BBC presenter in the future will be exposed as a paedophile, as a number have been in the recent past? No, of course you can’t…”