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The Tory war on the sick, disabled and chronically ill
Rishi Sunak’s ‘clampdown on sick-note culture’ reflects the sickness of the ‘elites’ and the capitalist system they run, writes CLAUDIA WEBBE MP
WHY AREN’T YOU AT WORK: Rishi Sunak prowls the wards of North Devon District Hospital, September 2023

IT’S a shocking fact, not known nearly widely enough, that around half of disabled people claiming Employment and Support Allowance have attempted suicide at some point in their lives, and too many because of the government’s onerous work capability assessment (WCA) scheme.

The figure was 43 per cent seven years ago, according to NHS Digital’s Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, and, while no more up-to-date figures have since been published, the numbers will only have gone in the wrong direction as the government has pushed harder and harder to force claimants of out-of-work disability benefits into work.

What is known, however, according to information presented to the Commons work and pensions select committee in 2022, is that over just a three-year period before then, the WCA had been linked to 600 suicides.

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