Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton has confirmed that under new proposals to save money, GPs may be offered cash incentives to encourage patients on Incapacity Benefit back to work. This is an outrageous idea. No matter how professional a GP attempts to be one cannot avoid the fear that decisions will be influenced by such financial incentives, if only subconsciously, in a cash-strapped GP’s surgery.

I await with little optimism a balancing proposal that accountants will be provided with cash incentives to discourage high earners and ‘captains of industry’ from using tax avoidance techniques to avoid paying moneys, which could help those in need.