Incentives that encourage people to stay on incapacity benefit were scrapped yesterday in the latest stage of the Government’s welfare reform package.

James Purnell, the Work and Pensions Secretary, sounded the death knell for the benefit when he published regulations to replace it with a new work-focused employment and support allowance (ESA). In the Budget the Government announced that every one of the 2.6 million claimants of incapacity benefit would be retested by a doctor. From April 2010 those who fail to show in a medical test that they are unfit for work will be moved off benefit and forced to seek a job.

The Government announced yesterday that it was scrapping incentives that mean the amount of money a claimant gets goes up after six months and then again after one year, with no obligation to look for work or improve work prospects. Mr Purnell also said he was removing the “age addition” that gives more money to people who start their claim before they are 45.

“Gone are the days when writing a sick note is writing people off for life,” he said. “ESA will give more financial support to the poorest, most disabled people in society while extending the opportunity of employment to all those who can work. Today’s measures are a key cultural shift in the benefit system which puts work at the heart of our support.”

Times Recommends

• UK regional accents thrive against the odds
• ‘Scarecrow’ wind farms put rare birds to flight
• What an anti-climax: G-spot is a myth