Thousands of people are being paid sickness benefits because they are too fat to work – at a cost to the taxpayer of £54million.

Shocking figures show welfare payments for claimants with obesity-related illnesses have more than doubled in five years – highlighting the crisis blighting Britain.

Almost 12,000 people received Disability Living Allowance last year because they have metabolic disease - the medical term for a combination of obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure.

Too fat to work: Almost 12,000 people receive disability benefits because of metabolic disease - a combination of obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure

The Department for Work and Pensions statistics show that the number of claimants with the condition has more than doubled from ariound 5,500 five years ago.

Obesity is also a massive burden on the NHS and costs the health service more than £9billion a year.

Ministers have been accused of failing to take proper action against the food industry to help the public by cutting calories in food and drink, and to help people make healthier choices.

Some DLA claimants have jobs but the vast majority are out of work. Recipients can receive up to £138 a week.

Tam Fry, spokesman for the National Obesity Forum, said: ‘Successive governments have made life too easy for too many obese people.

Jog on: Welfare payments for claimants with obesity-related illnesses have more than doubled in five years

‘If the obese have a legitimate cause for their fatness - and there may be medical or genetic reasons - benefits should not be denied to them. But getting long-term benefits simply for over-eating is an insult to society.’

Andy Silvester, from the Taxpayers’ Alliance campaign group, said: ‘It’s crucial that every one of these claims is investigated to ensure it’s necessary.’

Julia Manning, from the think tank 2020health, said: ‘This obesity crisis in the West is a far worse health catastrophe than Ebola but there has been no government urgent action, even though we see the benefits bill spiralling.’

Chubby numbers: Obesity costs the NHS more than £9billion a year

But Jill Tipping, of the obesity support charity HOOP UK, said: ‘Obese people have an addiction to food. It’s an illness.’

Nearly one in five British secondary school pupils and a quarter of adults are obese, according to officials figures.

Health experts predict that by 2050 the annual bill for obestity-related illnessed will have risen to £50billion a year, with almost two-thirds of the population obese.

In one extreme case, Paul Mason, 51, who was once known as the fattest man in the world, had to give up his job as a postman when he became too huge to complete his delivery rounds.

Mr Mason, of Ipswich, used to weigh 70 stone but shed a whopping 48 stone after gastric band surgery and now tips the scales at 22 stone

At the height of his weight problems he ate about 20,000 calories a day, weighed 70 stone, and needed a specially-built bungalow provided for him by the council.

When Mr Mason became ill, firefighters had to knock down a wall in his house and use a forklift truck to get him to hospital.

The Government has vowed to cut the welfare bill and began phasing out Disability Living Allowance in April and replacing it with the new Personal Independence Payment.

Ministers also launched a Call to Action campaign in October 2011 in a bid to tackle obesity and reduce the nation’s calorie intake by 2020.

The drive has called on the food and drink industry to play a key role in slashing the nation’s calorie consumption and encouraging families to eat healthily and enjoy active lifestyles.

But senior doctors and academics want the Government to force food manufacturers to cut sugar levels, ensure products are clearly labelled and impose a tax on soft drinks.

Public Health England, the Department of Health agency responsible for tackling obesity, has said it would ‘consider’ the ideas as part of a nine-month consultation process that will eventually report to ministers next spring.