3 October 2011

Iain Duncan Smith tells Conservative party conference that incapacity benefit is abused and open to fraud.

What: Ian Duncan Smith tells the Conservative party conference that incapacity benefit is “too often abused as an excuse for avoiding work”, saying that the “work capability assessment will review 1.5 million people on incapacity benefit”.

Why significant: This was at a time when Duncan Smith was already aware of the potentially fatal impact of the WCA on claimants, particularly those in mental distress, following the prevention of future deaths report that followed the suicide of Stephen Carré.