PIMLICO PLUMBERS TYCOON CHARLIE MULLINS BACKS SICK NOTE CRACKDOWN

Businessman says that Britain has a mystery 'Monday and Friday' illness

Pimlico Plumbers tycoon Charlie Mullins has backed Rishi Sunak's crackdown on Britain's 'sick note culture' saying that it's very simple to get signed off from work by a doctor.

He said that there was a mystery 'Monday and Friday' illness which workers could feign easily.

Mr Mullins told Good Morning Britain: 'Where does this Monday and Friday illness comes from? It comes on Monday and Friday. People don't know what it is but it comes on them days.

'What you're saying the people that have mental health issues of course they should have the help they need, but there's people a lot of people out there who are just playing that card and they know how simple it is to go to the doctor and GP and get signed off from work.'

A staggering 2.8million people are now considered 'economically inactive' due to being on long term sickness benefits.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Mel Stride said that 'enough is enough' during an interview round this morning, with the Prime Minister due to unveil changes that will remove powers from GPs to issue sick notes during a speech later today.

Overall, 9.4 million people aged between 16 and 64 are economically inactive - meaning they are neither in work nor looking for work.

Under the prime minister's new proposals, instead of looking to GPs, those looking to be signed off could be asked to discuss their health with teams of 'specialist work and health professionals' who will assess what work they are able to do and help them 'bounce back into the work place'.

Mr Mullins said the plan announced by the government would help get more people back in work who are off long term.

He said: 'This idea he [Rishi Sunak] is coming up with is actually going to help more people back into the workplace because once you've had an appointment with the GP you can't get back there within seven days - it can be months - and then long term you're off.

'Fifty per cent of people who are off work for six months never go back to work. So we should be showing them a way of how to get back into work.'

Mr Stride told LBC Radio there was no alternative to reform. 'If you look at issues like long-term sickness, disability, and you add up all the costs of all the benefits there, you get to about £69billion,' he said.

'The most worrying aspect of all of this… is the increased cost going forward. So all the forecasts are for these benefits to be skyrocketing upwards in time. And that is something that we must address. Enough is enough on that one is my message.

'So what you will be hearing from the Prime Minister is that we will be taking measures to make sure that welfare spend is under control.'

Concerns have been raised however about the prospect of people without medical qualifications deciding whether someone is fit to work.

NHS doctor Dr Emeka Okorocha told GMB that doctors were trained to determine genuine cases of illness from normal anxiety.

He said: 'We are trained with set criteria where we assess and evaluate people to see actually this isn't just normal anxiety, this is general anxiety disorder.

'We are taught to be able to evaluate and diagnose this.'

2024-04-19T09:36:40Z dg43tfdfdgfd