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‘Sickfluencers’ guiding benefit claimants on how to maximise support from the Government has been blamed for seeing welfare claims surge. A report by the centre-right Policy Exchange think tank has found online communities with thousands of members receiving advice on how to claim health and disability benefits.

The think tank said they were “dominated” by posts asking how to describe symptoms, what to include in forms, and what people are entitled to. It described a pattern of “large-scale peer-to-peer” coaching in the online groups, with explicit encouragement to “lay it on thick” and not downplay frequency or severity. Reform UK’s Treasury spokesperson Robert Jenrick MP, who endorsed the report, said: “The ballooning benefits bill will bankrupt Britain unless the Government act.

“Those who’ve paid in and fallen on hard times deserve support. But as Policy Exchange’s report shows, it’s increasingly clear people are gaming the system, spurred on by social media influencers who are taking it in at the taxpayers’ expense.

“The authorities should be coming down on welfare scammers like a ton of bricks. And we urgently need to return to in-person assessments to root out those choosing to be on benefits.”

Policy Exchange said the algorithms of short-form video platforms are helping to spread the content.

The think tank said this can reach people who may not initially view themselves as eligible, unlike forums where individuals must first self-identify and seek out support.

It noted one video which tells viewers they can receive “up to £62k” by making claims for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Generative AI was also found to be assisting applicants with model answers to maximise their benefit awards.

Government figures show 16.8 million people, roughly one quarter of the population, considered themselves disabled in 2023-24, up from about 11.9 million in 2013-14.

There are now over 4.2 million people on Universal Credit who are not expected to look for work, and 1.5 million people are now claiming a benefit called Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for mental health conditions — up by 100,000 in the space of a year.

The UK spends £76.9 billion annually on benefits to support disabled people and people with health problems.

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: “We’re fixing the broken welfare system we inherited which allowed 80% of assessments to take place virtually.

“As the report says, we are substantially increasing the proportion of face-to-face assessments to 30%, as part of a package of reforms that will save £1.9 billion.

“We are also cracking down on benefit fraud and encourage anyone who suspects it to report it to us. Actively promoting, encouraging, or assisting in fraud is a crime with a punishment of up to 10 years in prison.”