Complaint
In the course of an interview with a Government minister Laura Kuennsberg asked “Is it fair that you can get as much as an extra £400 a month in benefits if you’re sick rather than somebody who’s out of work, looking for a job?â€. A viewer complained that the circumstances in which the upper limit of sickness benefit payments could be reached were so rare that it was misleading to cite the £400 figure without qualification. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½â€™s editorial standards of accuracy.
Outcome
The ECU noted it was the case that a person assessed as having limited capability for work and work-related activity due to sickness or disability could in some circumstances receive around an additional £400 per month compared to a single adult on Universal Credit who is on a low income or out of work. Irrespective of the incidence of such circumstances, the ECU did not consider the terms of the question misleading in a context where the focus was on the principles underlying the Government’s approach to reforming the benefits system rather than the relative deserts of different categories of claimant.
Not upheld