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Reforms to incapacity benefit are essential because the current system is "abandoning people to be dependent on benefits", a senior government official claimed.

Greg Chammings, project director for incapacity benefit reform at the Department for Work and Pensions, said the government's proposed changes would help disabled people into work.

"Once a person has claimed incapacity benefit for more than two years they are more likely to retire or die rather than to return to work."

Robert Kendall, implementation manager for Derbyshire's Pathways to Work pilot, said the scheme was very much about helping people into work.

But he admitted that some clients linked Jobcentre Plus with "stopping their benefits".