590 People Die because of Welfare Reforms
Perhaps it is time for Iain Duncan-Smith to revisit his welfare reforms, which seem to have resulted in 590 suicides and 279,000 cases of mental ill health. This is not the sign of a caring society that takes care of its vulnerable citizens.
The introduction of tougher fit-to-work tests for sick and disabled people have coincided with hundreds more suicides and thousands more cases of mental illness, academic researchers have said.
In findings that could be hugely damaging for the Government’s welfare reform agenda, experts from the universities of Liverpool and Oxford said that up to 590 additional suicides, 279,000 cases of mental ill health and 725,000 more prescriptions for antidepressants between 2010 and 2013 were associated with the introduction of the more stringent Work Capability Assessment (WCA).”
