The vast majority of incapacity benefit claimants who were recently reassessed or due to be reassessed proved to be fit for work, according to Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) figures.

The DWP said that 78 per cent of the 842,100 people it wanted to look at were either declared fit for work or ceased to claim the benefit before medical assessments had been carried out. Around 7,000 of the claimants said their problem was they had sexually transmitted diseases and nearly 10,000 said they were too fat.

Employment minister Chris Grayling commented: "With over two million people trapped on incapacity benefits, these figures underline how important it is that we make sure everyone who has the potential to work gets the right help to move off benefits and into a job. This is not about pushing the sick and disabled into jobs but giving those that can work the help to do so and those that can't more, not less, support."

The shadow work and pensions secretary Douglas Alexander claimed that the previous government deserved some credit for the changes. "These latest figures show this reform put in place by Labour can help people make the transition from welfare into work," he said.

• The government also recently announced plans to increase the basic state pension from £97.65 a week to £140 a week, taking millions of pensioners out of means testing and increasing payments for women.

And it replaced the abandoned child trust fund with a tax-free children's ISA which will be set up with £250 of public money for all children and £500 for poorer kids. The money will be accessible when the kids turn 18.

http://www.publicservice.co.uk/news_story.asp?id=14567