A tragic statistic hidden in the quarterly report on the performance of the Work Programme proves beyond doubt that both this and the last government’s welfare reforms have been an abject failure.

Buried in the Supplemental Tables at the end of the report are the Work Programme performance figures for ESA Ex-Incapacity Benefit claimants.   These are claimants who were previously on Incapacity Benefit and have been re-assessed by Atos as able to do some kind of work and placed in the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG) of Employment Support Allowance (ESA).

These are the people that the right wing press have all too often smeared as frauds, who were faking or over-exaggerating their conditions.  People with cancer in some cases, or serious mental health conditions, Multiple Sclerosis or HIV.  They are the people who in some desperate incidents have been driven to suicide by the stressful and demeaning Atos…