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The Government’s controversial fitness-to-work tests may be linked to 600 suicides, according to a Liverpool scientist.

The study – led by the University of Liverpool’s Ben Barr – concluded the benefits tests may have had “serious adverse consequences” on mental health.

The scientists found there were six suicides per every 10,000 disability benefit claimants given a fitness-to-work test between 2010 and 2013 – equivalent to 600 across England.

There were also 2,700 cases of reported mental health problems per 10,000 claimants who were assessed over the same period.

And there were 7,020 antidepressant prescriptions per every 10,000 claimants who were assessed by Atos over the three-year period.

Atos has since quit its contract to conduct the tests and has been succeeded by Maximus.

But the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) slammed the report, claiming the study was “wholly misleading”.

The researchers concluded the fitness-to-work tests were “independently associated with an increase in suicides, self-reported mental health problems and antidepressant prescribing”.

They added: “This policy may have had serious adverse consequences for mental health in England, which could outweigh any benefits that arise from moving people off disability benefits.”

The tests see disability benefit claimants given scores based on the severity of their illness. Anyone deemed fit to work can be moved from employment support to jobseekers’ allowance.

In an interview with the ECHO, senior public health lecturer Mr Barr called for the fitness-to-work tests to be reviewed.

He said: “There’s a growing amount of evidence that the work capability assessments are not working in the way they are intended.

“It’s time there was a real re-think of how these assessments are designed. The Government should look at and evaluate the effect it has on people’s lives.”

Mr Barr’s study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, found there were more suicides, mental health problems and antidepressant prescriptions in areas of the country where more people had gone through work capability assessments.

He said: “We tried to come up with potential explanations for this, such as unemployment, local government cuts or changes in wages.

“But the likely explanation is that the increase is at least in part related to the reassessment of incapacity benefit claimants.”

A DWP spokesman said: “This report is wholly misleading and the authors themselves caution that no conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect.

“In addition, it is concerning that they provide no evidence that the people with mental health problems highlighted in the report even underwent a work capability assessment.”