Obesity is linked to third of sickness benefit claims
MORE than 800,000 Britons who claim sickness benefit suffer from conditions linked to obesity, it emerged yesterday.
The staggering figure of a third of claimants came in an official report into the impact of obesity and drug and alcohol addiction on employment.
The study recommended that JobCentre staff are given the power to order obese benefit claimants to see a doctor about their weight.
In the run-up to last year’s gen- eral election, David Cameron said it was unfair to expect taxpayers to fund the lifestyles of obese claimants who ‘refuse to accept support that could help them get back to a life of work’.
Plans for a system of benefit sanctions for overweight refuseniks appeared in the Tory manifesto, alongside a scheme to dock benefits for alcoholics and drug addicts who refused help.
But Theresa May yesterday abandoned the idea. Her spokes- man said: ‘ Withdrawing benefits from obese people is not under consideration.’
As prime minister, Mr Cameron asked University of Cambridge professor Dame Carol Black to carry out the study last year.
Her report warned that official figures suggesting just 1,600 people are signed off work because of obesity ‘seem very low’.
The study found that more than 800,000 people on employment and support allowance (ESA) ‘have conditions that may arise due to obesity’ – equal to one third of the total number on the sick- ness benefit. But it said there was not enough evidence to establish a causal link between obesity and a life on benefits.
Almost one in four working-age adults are obese, with 68 per cent of them in work – not many fewer than the 70 per cent of those whose weight is lower. However, the employment gap increases to ten percentage points for the severely obese.
Dame Carol said more work was needed to establish how many people were not working as a result of their weight.
The report said: ‘ Obesity is very likely to contribute to worklessness for some people indirectly, through other conditions associated with it.’
Although she called for JobCentre staff to be given the power to order obese claimants to see a doctor
‘Likely to contribute to worklessness’
about their weight, with ministers ruling out benefit sanctions for those who refuse, it is unclear how the system could be made to work.
Dame Carol also said it should be a ‘requirement’ for claimants with drug and alcohol problems to see a GP about ‘the impact of their health condition on their ability to work’.
The study said 86,700 ESA claimants list alcohol or drug dependency as their ‘main disabling condition’.
But No 10 said there was a ‘consensus’ that the threat of benefit sanctions could result in people trying to hide their addictions.
A spokesman added: ‘We are very clear that we want to support those who are suffering from long-term but treatable conditions back into work and we will look at how best we can achieve that. Dame Carol’s review will form part of that process.’ The new study cited evidence suggesting Britain is the fattest country in Europe, and warned that the severely overweight were likely to face discrimination in the workplace. A survey of 1,000 employers found that 45 per cent were less likely to give a job to an obese candidate.
The report also said employers and the Government should do more to encourage obese people to lose weight, adding: ‘We believe there is a long-term risk that obesity becomes an ill- defined but widely accepted reason for absence from work or receipt of benefits, rather like “back pain” nowadays.’