Government benefit plans target the wrong people

12.31.30pm GMT Mon 27th Oct 2008

Oldham East & Saddleworth Liberal Democrats have criticised government plans for incapacity benefit reform, saying that they will target the wrong people.

Elwyn Watkins, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary hopeful for Oldham East & Saddleworth, said, "The government still cannot discriminate between people who are genuinely in need and people who are shirkers.

"All too often the people who are put through the ringer are those who are genuinely sick, while professional scroungers who know the system are not held to account or prevented from claiming benefits.

"Everyone knows that the benefits system needs reform, and the Liberal Democrats have plans to simplify the benefits system.

"But these plans could hurt genuinely sick people at a time when the financial crisis is already hitting people hard."