Nearly three-quarters of health-related Universal Credit claimants in Luton unable to work

Disability equity charity Scope said the Government's work capability assessment system, which determines whether a claimant should be looking for employment, "causes unnecessary anxiety and does not address the real barriers to work".

New figures from the Department for Work and Pensions show there were 10,245 people receiving Universal Credit for health-related reasons in Luton as of June – a 41 per cent increase on the 7,264 a year earlier.

Across Britain, this figure rose from 2.1 to 2.9 million people over the same period.

In Luton, 72 per cent of those receiving the benefit for health reasons had been assessed as having limited capability for work and work-related activity, meaning they were not required to undertake any interviews or jobhunting.

This was in line with a year before, when this figure stood at 72 per cent.

Nationally, this accounted for 2.2 million people, 75 per cent of all health-related UC claimants. This was up from 1.5 million (71 per cent) a year earlier.

James Taylor, director of strategy at Scope, said the uplift is driven by migration from Employment and Support Allowance to Universal Credit, and by expected changes in the success rate.

However, he added: "What has remained constant is a difficult to navigate welfare system beset with backlogs, lengthy delays, and a complicated application process."

The figures also show 9 per cent of claimants in Luton were assessed to have 'limited capability for work', meaning they were expected to "participate in work related activity to help them move towards the labour market".

This was down from 11 per cent a year earlier.

Tom Marsland, head of policy at disability charity Sense, said: "Universal Credit is a lifeline for disabled people with complex needs.

"Not all disabled people are able to work – but those who could work with the right support, and want to work, are often frozen out of the labour market by unacceptable barriers.

"Unfair recruitment practices, a lack of support from employers and a complete absence of specialist assistive technology in job centres all stand in the way."

Mikey Erhardt, policy lead at Disability Rights UK, said: "These figures demonstrate how wrong the Government's approach to the benefits system has been.

"The Government needs to focus on tackling the underlying causes of sickness and disability and ensuring that those unable to work can lead dignified lives, not cutting the meagre support that disabled people are forced to live on."

A DWP spokesperson said: "For too long, too many sick or disabled people across the country have been left on benefits without the support they need to get back to health and into work.

"That’s why we’re shifting our focus from welfare to work, skills, and opportunities – backed by £3.8 billion of employment support.

"We’re also reforming the system by rebalancing the rates of Universal Credit to reduce the perverse incentives that encourage ill health, as part our Plan for Change."