Behind £3bn increase in disability benefit
Disability benefits are costing taxpayers an extra £3.1billion a year under Labour - and a major factor is a massive rise in the number of claimants who are drug addicts and alcoholics, according to newly released documents.
Over the past ten years, the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) budget has soared from £5.7billion to £8.8billion a year - enough to build 20 new 'super hospitals'.
And papers released under the Freedom of Information Act disclose that the number of drug addicts and alcoholics claiming the £60-a-week payment has risen five-fold, from 3,000 in 1997 to almost 17,000 last year.
The figures also reveal:
• Claimants suffering from ' psychosis' - a form of mental illness often caused by smoking cannabis - leapt from 63,000 to 148,000.
• The claim of 'back pain - not specified' has more than doubled from 56,000 to 123,000, costing the taxpayer an extra £291million.
• The number of deaf people in the UK has almost tripled from 13,000 to 34,600, costing a total of £79million.
• Claimants citing 'learning difficulties' rose from 182,000 to 282,000 - a leap from £532million to £781million.
Critics have claimed that checks on claimants are not sufficiently stringent and that criminals have targeted the benefit.
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1030237/Drug-addicts-alcoholics-3bn-increase-disability-benefit.html Quote:
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Critics have claimed that checks on claimants are not sufficiently stringent and that criminals have targeted the benefit.
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You bet.