Sunak’s plan to tackle UK “sick note culture” will increase destitution, campaigners say

UK anti-poverty campaigners have warned that Rishi Sunak’s plans to reduce disability benefits, stop GPs signing people off work and prevent people out of work for 12 months claiming any benefits will increase destitution – the most severe form of hardship. “Almost two thirds of people in destitution live with a chronic health condition or disability,” says Iain Porter, senior policy adviser at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. “Simply cutting people’s eligibility for benefits will just increase this hardship.” Nearly four million Britons currently live in destitution, meaning they are unable to stay warm, dry, clean and fed. The government has also scrapped the Work and Health Programme, which helped people with disabilities into work. Dr Katie Bramall-Stainer, chair of the BMA union’s GP committee, said that rather than pushing a “hostile rhetoric on ‘sick note culture’,” Sunak should focus on what is stopping people getting the necessary healthcare to return to work.