Explosion of ‘sickfluencers’ online fuelling culture of worklessness in Britain by coaching people how to ‘lay it on thick’ to claim disability benefits

A boom of ‘sick minds’ on social media is fueling Britain’s unemployment crisis by coaching people on how to maximize their benefit payments, a report has found.

Thousands of users on internet forums are also sharing advice on the best way to describe symptoms and what to include in claim forms, encouraging ‘more detail on this topic’.

Policy Exchange researchers found that many claimants are now using AI tools like ChatGPT to generate model responses and strengthen the wording of their applications, even if they have no medical evidence for such claims.

The health and disability benefits system is increasingly at risk of being ‘distorted’ by disease influencers who have gained large followings online by coaching potential new claimants, the think tank warns.

They produce ‘step-by-step guides’ on how to make the process successful, detailing the products and services people can request and luring people with the offer that they can help them ‘get up to £62k in ADHD support’.

Some posts have tens of thousands of views.

The report reveals that social media users may be led to claim content after seeing it online, even though they never thought otherwise.

He adds that the widespread nature of the videos and posts has had the effect of ‘normalising’ an outreach lifestyle and created a culture of entitlement.

In a TikTok video titled ‘If you have ADHD, you’ll really want to hear this’, a young man films an array of equipment, including noise-cancelling headphones

A TikToker told how he claimed £13,000 using this scheme

In a clip tagged #ADHDhacks, a TikToker reveals she waited for her own application before signing, rubbing her fingers together and saying, “Show me the money, baby.”

The report, titled ‘Sick Raiders and Artificial Intelligence: How Technology is Changing the Health and Disability Benefits System’, is backed by Reform UK’s shadow chancellor, Robert Jenrick, who warned in its foreword that ‘a ballooning benefits bill will bankrupt Britain unless the government acts’.

Economic inactivity caused by ill health costs the UK £212 billion each year; This corresponds to approximately 7 percent of national income.

Disability prevalence increased from 11.9 million (one-fifth of the population) in 2013/14 to 16.8 million (one-quarter of the population) in 2023/24.

The sharpest increase was seen among 16- to 24-year-olds; the prevalence of disability here has more than doubled in a decade, from 8 percent to 18 percent.

Nearly 1.5 million people are receiving Personal Independence Payment for mental health problems, an increase of over 100,000 in the last year alone.

Policy Exchange is calling for stricter evaluation standards, a requirement to produce comprehensive medical documentation for claims, and a major expansion of self-assessments to increase the robustness of the system.

The report states: ‘The rigid and tick-the-box nature of the current regime has made it increasingly vulnerable to exploitation by online communities and AI tools called ‘sick influencers’.

‘Together these forces are reshaping the way individuals qualify, need to be framed and interact with the welfare system, contributing to a sharp increase in successful claims and placing growing and unsustainable pressure on public finances.’

Mr Jenrick added: ‘Those who have paid the price and fallen on hard times deserve support.

But as Policy Exchange’s report shows, it is increasingly clear that people are gaming the system, encouraged by social media influencers who are hijacking the system at taxpayers’ expense.

‘The authorities need to attack welfare fraudsters like a ton of bricks.

‘And we urgently need to return to personal assessments to root out those who choose to use benefits.’

The report also found evidence that some people were misusing the Access to Work scheme to fund a support worker to carry out standard business management duties.

This means taxpayers are subsidizing ordinary work roles rather than helping a disabled person stay in work.

Gareth Lyon, head of health and social care at Policy Exchange, said: ‘The benefits system needs to be robust, respected and recognized as legitimate.

It is designed for a world where information moves slowly, but where social media platforms, online communities and artificial intelligence tools are fundamentally changing this environment, putting the integrity of the system at risk while costs to taxpayers are rising to unsustainable levels.

‘The system now contains a growing gray area where uncertainty about rights can easily expand and lead to distortions, especially as some actors are encouraged to promote greater claims for certain products and services.

‘The task for policymakers is not to overturn the technology, but to modernize the system and ensure its integrity so that support is targeted effectively to ensure taxpayers’ interests are protected.’

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: ‘We are fixing the broken welfare system we inherited, which allows 80 per cent of assessments to take place virtually.

‘As set out in the report, we are significantly increasing the rate of face-to-face assessments to 30 per cent as part of a reform package that will save £1.9bn.

‘We also respond to benefits fraud and encourage anyone who suspects it to report it to us. ‘Actively promoting, promoting or assisting fraud is an offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison.’