The stress on individuals and the economy means that "urgent" reforms were needed to help more people back to work, said Dame Carol Black, the Government's adviser on workplace health. But doctors' leaders said the plans would fail without significant extra funding. Proposals to use GPs, social workers and counsellors to cut the number of benefit claimants and missed work days could put existing services under pressure, the British Medical Association said. More than 2.6 million people claim incapacity benefit and 350,000 claimants join every year, contributing to sickness absence which costs the economy over £13 billion and 175 million lost working days annually. More than £80 million could be saved if half of those who go on sick leave every year return to work a week earlier, the report says. But the BMA, which represents more than 130,000 doctors, said ministers would have to allocate significant extra funding if the report's recommendations were to have any effect.
The Telegraph