Judith Collins MP
National Party Welfare Spokeswoman

9 May 2007

More than $130,000 spent for every success

National Party Welfare spokeswoman Judith Collins says she’s suspicious about the sudden decline of 900 beneficiaries collecting the sickness and invalids benefits during April.

“In 2004 the Government launched a $128 million programme to make ‘significant inroads’ into the number of people collecting the sickness and invalids benefits. Since then thousands more have signed on.

“Today we learn, through questions in Parliament, that the $128 million programme has miraculously seen 951 people drop off the sickness and invalids benefits in April.

“Is spending more than $134,000 per beneficiary, when the numbers have grown by thousands in recent years, good value for money?

“Did David Benson-Pope order a crackdown in April? If he could do it in April, what’s been happening for the past eight years when the numbers on the sickness and invalids benefits have grown by nearly 50% and millions has been spent?”

Ms Collins has also responded to Mr Benson-Pope’s challenge to provide more information about doctors who sign people on to the sickness and invalids benefits.

“Just last month Christchurch doctor Alisdair Webb said GPs had come under real pressure to shift beneficiaries onto the sickness benefit, and that’s been repeated time and time again. Yet, answers to parliamentary questions show that only now is Labour reviewing the guidelines for doctors.

“GPs are often put under real pressure to ‘green light’ certificates for would-be sickness beneficiaries. Unless Mr Benson-Pope has his head in the sand, he also knows it and it’s time he confronted it.”

ENDS

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