A new report highlights the flaws and failings of the current Incapacity Benefit System and warns that recent changes and proposals do not offer a solution.

'To Banker from Bankies' sets out how the Incapacity System as it now operates is 'hassling' people who are not well enough to work and how the methods employed against ill people lead to unnecessary and counterproductive stress. The report calls for the government to create a humane welfare system and separate the myths and the stereotypes by listening to people who are receiving benefits.

The report's authors, Dr Chik Collins of the University of the West of Scotland, working together with Janice Dickson and Mary Collins of the Clydebank Independent Resource Centre (CIRC), have addressed the report to former banker, David Freud, whose ideas were the inspiration for recent and ongoing reforms - like the introduction of Employment Support Allowance, the continuing privatisation of employment services and the current Welfare Reform Bill.

The 'Bankies' are the people at the CIRC, which has evolved over four decades and provides a welfare rights service for Clydebank. The Centre is urging politicians to stand up for vulnerable people and to stop proposed changes from being implemented.

The report is part-funded and supported by Oxfam Scotland.

Speaking about the Incapacity Benefit System Dr Chik Collins said,

"The government's drive to get people back to work has resulted in inappropriate, wasteful and counterproductive action against people who are simply not fit to work.

"We need change, but not by going down the government line. The government wants privatisation of the Department of Work and Pensions functions and punitive measures to force claimants into work. But there is no evidence that will be more efficient or effective than the public sector working with people positively rather than punitively. The evidence points the other way. The government's measures will be wasteful and counterproductive.

"Medical assessors are increasingly under pressure to think less about individuals than about the targets set by government and the profits of private companies. That can't be good. And of course all these reforms were dreamt up in the boom. In the current recession they have lost what little credibility they might have had."

Jim Boyle, Programme Coordinator for Oxfam Scotland added, "Once again it is the most vulnerable people in society who are having to justify the money they receive. In the light of recent events in the banking sector this is hugely ironic.

" There is a perception that benefits are an easy option but most of us know and politicians now agree that we would struggle to live off the amounts people are given. What we need is for the politicians to seriously listen to the people who are at the sharp end of the benefits system. They should then act on what they hear. Maybe then we can see the emergence of a system that gives people who are unwell and not fit to work dignity instead of constantly having to justify their illnesses within an uncaring system. "

Mary Collins of the Clydebank Independent Resource Centre commented, "Politicians and those 'in the know' must ask themselves in what direction they are going with the benefit system. In a system where people who can barely stand because of their medical condition and yet have to appeal in order to retain their Incapacity Benefit, there is something dreadfully wrong.

" We see more and more people through our doors who are told they are not eligible for benefits or have had their entitlement to benefits such as Incapacity Benefit withdrawn, yet when their case is reviewed or appealed their benefit is usually reinstated. The fact is that the current legislation is going to exacerbate this already shameful practice and has the potential to cause further suffering for individuals, who in many cases are suffering from mental health problems. The future does not look so bright."

ENDS