Labour MPs and union officials say it is too soon to describe the new incapacity benefit system as a success because it is unclear if more people with a handicap are still in work, Trouw reported on Monday.

Only 3,800 people have been declared fully unfit to work since the introduction of a new incapacity benefit system a year ago. The paper says the government had expected up to 25,000 claims.
‘If so few people qualify, you have to ask if we still actually have an incapacity benefit system,’ Labour MP Ton Heerts told the paper. CNV union chairman René Paas said more research was needed to find out what happened to people who did not qualify for the benefit.
The new system, known as the WIA, was introduced to replace the WAO benefit which was being claimed by almost a million people in 2003.
The new incapacity benefit system only covers people who are judged totally unfit for work, such as those with terminal cancer or severe mental health problems, Trouw says. People who are deemed to be only partly unable to work can claim top-up benefits.
A preliminary evaluation of the new rules in January appeared to show that people who were officially partly fit for work were being sacked and claiming unemployment benefit instead.
The figures, from the benefit payment agency (UWV), also show a sharp drop in the number of WAO claims. Some 587,500 people are now living from WAO benefits. The reduction has been achieved by a number of measures, including extending the sick pay system to two years and introducing tighter health checks.