‘Sickfluencers’ educate Brits the way to beat DWP system and money in on advantages
Britain has become a nation of benefits cheats thanks to the rise of online ‘sickfluencers’.
A wave of accounts on TikTok and YouTube advising how to maximise illness and disability payouts have been getting millions of views – as record numbers of people are signed off for long-term sickness.
Some of the cynical influencers, who we’re not naming here, charge nearly £1,000 per session for “expert” advice on gaming the benefits system.
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More than 15,000 UK folk a week are approved for sick and disability payments.
Internet tips to cash in on illness included lists of keywords to use in assessments that match scoring criteria – including “psychological distress”.
There are also application templates provided to “increase your chances” of getting long-term illness and disability payments. And sickfluencers warn how to avoid answering “trick” questions at interviews with authorities.
The number of sickness benefit approvals rose from more than 1,000 before the Covid pandemic to a high of more than 3,000 every working day in March, according to official figures.
There were 3.3 million people claiming disability or incapacity benefits last year – up one million since 2019.
The cost of sickness benefits to Britain is set to reach £100 billion before the end of the decade.
It is more than the budgets for schools, police and courts combined.
One Department for Work and Pensions Assessor who works as GP said: “What strikes me about this job is how few people I speak to who are genuinely too sick to work.
“Most of the claims are to do with stress or anxiety. I’m speaking to people who, as a GP, I would not say were too sick to work.”
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