More claim benefit for depression

By STEPHEN COOK

Stress and depression have emerged as leading reasons behind a sharp increase in the number of people claiming sickness or invalid benefits.

Figures provided to the Herald yesterday from the Ministry of Social Development show rising numbers are claiming sickness benefits on mental health grounds.

Traditionally conditions such as severe back pain have been the prime contributor to numbers on the sickness and invalid's benefit.

But now there appears to have been a shift in the reasons given by those medically unfit for work - with the numbers claiming some sort of psychological condition making up 34.8 per cent of all sickness beneficiaries.

That represents an increase of 101 per cent in eight years.

Anyone seeking a sickness benefit on the grounds of stress or depression must get a medical clearance from their doctor certifying they are unfit for work. Stress and depression are separate conditions, defined by the doctor assessing the patient's complaint.

In the year to June, of 15,367 receiving a sickness benefit for psychological reasons, 8345 benefits were paid out to people who claimed they were either too stressed or too depressed to work.

Work and Income figures showed people with psychological illnesses made up 41.8 per cent of the total 72,342 on an invalid's benefit.

Increases over the eight-year period are even more startling with a 321 per cent rise in the number of people claiming an invalid's benefit because of depression and a 618 per cent surge in the numbers receiving the benefit for stress.

The figures follow claims earlier this week that more unemployed are trying to sign up for sickness benefits to avoid work testing.

Nationally 113,337 people are on a sickness or invalid's benefit - a 7 per cent increase on the previous year.

Social Development Employment Minister Steve Maharey said yesterday that the growth in the number of people on disability-related benefits was a trend experienced by most OECD nations.

New Zealand's response to the issue was at the cutting edge of world best practice, he said.

Its sickness and invalids strategy, being trialled in Manukau, went as far as buying operations for people to enable them to return to work.

Ministry spokeswoman Katrina Ings said yesterday that life could be tough for people with mental health issues, and it recognised that the longer people remained on benefits the more difficult it became for them to move towards independence.

However, it was important to stress that to qualify for a sickness or invalid's benefit, applicants must meet certain medical criteria that could be determined only by a medical practitioner.

National's social services spokeswoman Katherine Rich said the figures highlighted everything that was wrong with the current benefit system.

The fact that such dramatic rises had occurred showed things were not working, she said.

A National government would introduce a more thorough evaluation system to ensure those on the sickness benefit were actually sick and incapable of work.

Whitianga GP Rod Hickey, who has campaigned against paying the sickness benefit to able-bodied people, said a doctor's diagnosis for stress and depression was a purely subjective thing.

Most people suffering psychologically could be treated with medication so they could return to work.

"There's no blood tests for depression. It's basically up to the doctor, and if he or she is being pressured then there are occasions where the easy option is to just pass the person unfit for work," he said.