Editorial: In sickness and in health

OPINION: The good news about welfare benefits is that the number of people on the dole has plummeted in the past decade. The bad news is that the fall has been accompanied by a sharp rise in the number claiming sickness and invalid's benefits.

From September 1999 to September this year, the number of sickness beneficiaries increased from 32,000 to 56,000. The number of invalid beneficiaries rose from 51,000 to 85,000.

The Social Development Ministry appears to believe that the increases, which mirror international trends, are beyond its control. An investigation by the auditor-general found the ministry paid little more than lip service to changes made by the last government to improve the vetting of beneficiary claims and better prepare sickness and invalid beneficiaries for a return to full or part-time employment.

Extra staff had been hired and the wording of medical certificates changed to provide more information about claimants' health, but the ministry had not established contact with many long-term beneficiaries, was not actively managing the cases of many of those who might be able to return to work, was not applying sanctions to beneficiaries who refused to co-operate, and was not monitoring the effectiveness of the changes.

Among the sample cases it investigated were two of individuals receiving the invalid's benefit (intended for people incapacitated by severe long-term illness or disability) while doing fulltime courses of study. One of them was also working part-time and had been issued with a medical certificate – held by the department – that said s/he was not permanently or severely disabled and did not medically qualify for the benefit. Another invalid beneficiary had the benefit renewed just two months after seeking a grant to train for a pilot's licence. Perhaps the most damning of the auditor-general's findings was that 24,000 people had been continuously on the sickness benefit for more than a year, despite it being intended for those with a "short-term medical condition".

The majority of those on both benefits deserve public sympathy. But there is sufficient evidence of people slipping through the cracks in the system to suggest that numbers can be significantly reduced by more active case management. The department's southern region office reduced the number of beneficiaries on its books by 134 in six weeks when it established a team to interview sickness beneficiaries aged between 25 and 49.

For that reason, the recent indications that National ministers are preparing to implement their pre-election promise to make it tougher to sign up for and stay on both the sickness and invalid's benefit are welcome. Those who are permanently incapacitated deserve all the help the state can offer. So do those taking their first tentative steps back into the workforce. Government plans to increase the amount long-term beneficiaries can earn from part-time work make sense.

However, a short-term medical condition, no matter how debilitating, is not a reason for a life of dependency. Anyone able to study fulltime or train to fly a plane should be able to undertake some form of paid work. It is not in their interests, or anyone else's, for them to rot on a benefit.

- © Fairfax NZ News