A SCHEME aimed at cracking down on people who claim incapacity benefit when fit for work is being rolled out today - months after being piloted in East Lancashire.

People who claim the benefit will have to undergo tough new tests as part of the work capability assessment, which was piloted on 850 residents in the area last year.

The Government will be re-examining the cases of around 1.6 million people across the country, including around 23,850 in East Lancashire.

And if claimants are deemed fit they will be told to get back to work and moved on to the lesser Jobseekers’ Allowance.

The work capability assessment has evolved from the scheme piloted at East Lancashire Job Centres after independent advice from Professor Malcolm Harrington.

That test, which involved a questionnaire followed by a medical test, was slammed as ‘impersonal and mechanistic’.

Employment Minister Chris Grayling said: “We will now place much greater emphasis on other evidence that will shed a light on someone’s condition.

“And the process will be more human. Previously the only contact a claimant had was through letters full of official jargon. Now they will get a sympathetic phone call explaining what is happening.”

Mr Grayling said people who qualify for state retirement pension in the next three years and those who are too ill to attend an assessment will not be made to go through the process.

The re-assessments will take place over the next three years.

Mr Grayling said: “We are at the start of a revolution.

“Many current claimants will be worried about what lies ahead. My message to them is simple. We will provide unconditional support to those whose health means they cannot possibly work. But we will put real effort into trying to help the others find a better role in life.

“And we will continue to make determined efforts to ensure that we, and the system we have put in place, treats people fairly, properly and appropriately.”