VR46
You’re pairing that picture with quite a broad brush.
I’m no expert, but the work I do sometimes crosses over with benefits, and the assessment to determine whether someone is eligible for PIP due to a health condition or disability was already quite stringent.
The difficulty is that when you talk about the extent to which a benefit claim is “legit” you also have to keep in mind that claimants encompass a variety of different factors — including for example, those who are in low-paid work that have to claim Universal Credit to top up their earnings.
Similarly, the term “economically inactive” includes groups like those who are retired, students and caregivers as well as the group that you are referring to that are unable to work due to ill health. No one is sure exactly why the numbers are so high (beyond the contextual factors), but I would bet it is linked to the multifaceted layers of a country that has been in decline for years.
It is an incredibly complex issue that cannot be solved by simplistic measures like weeding out the “scammers”.
