The number of adults in Britain who are receiving sickness benefits as they are too obese to work has doubled in three years, a Freedom of Information request has revealed. 

The Mirror report:

More than 7,000 adults in Britain are being paid sickness benefits because they are too fat to work.

The taxpayers’ bill for their welfare payments came to more than £28million last year, shock figures reveal today.

The Department for Work and Pensions statistics show the total number of obesity claims has doubled in three years to 7,080.

You can read the full story here. 

I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.