What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

More than 2,500 sick and disabled benefit claimants have died after being found 'fit for work' in just two years, shock figures reveal today.

The Tories have finally released the total - burying it under immigration figures - after 250,000 people signed a petition calling on them to end the cover-up.

Iain Duncan Smith's officials tried to stop the figures being released in full, mounting a legal challenge to publish only 'age-standardised' numbers instead.

The stand-off saw him launch a blistering attack on Labour MPs including Debbie Abrahams, who've been demanding the figures for months.

But he's now performed a U-turn and issued the devastating figures today.

They show 2,650 benefit claimants died shortly after being found 'fit for work' between December 2011 and February 2014.

Find out what you can do if you're wrongly declared 'fit to work' here.

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

The figures also appear to show more than half (1,360) had appealed the decision to throw them off sickness benefits before they died.

Nearly all the deaths (2,380) were people on Employment and Support Allowance - which the Work and Pensions Secretary claims is meant to be a 'short-term' benefit.

The rest (270) were on Incapacity Benefit (IB) or Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA).

They were told to come off the benefit and transfer onto the lower-rate jobseekers' allowance - despite some being badly disabled.

Tragic cases included diabetic dad David O’Mar, 58, who died just two weeks after being declared fit for work - a case Labour's Kate Green raised at the despatch box.

Find out how some law students helped sick and disabled claimants win back £600,000 here.

(Image: Matthew Horwood)

The 'frightening and disgusting' figures have been slammed by Jeremy Corbyn, who said Iain Duncan Smith should resign.

Labour leadership rival Andy Burnham added: "These are shocking figures that for the first time show the human cost of this Government's punishing benefits regime.

"It raises serious questions about this Government's punitive approach to people on benefits."

Shadow work and pensions minister Kate Green said: "These figures should be a wake-up call for the Government. Ministers need to focus on sorting out the assessment process so that everyone can have confidence in it, and providing support for disabled people who can work in order to help them do so."

And Labour MP Debbie Abrahams, who's campaigned on the issue, said: "The Government should be ashamed.

"They should also apologise to claimants and families of those that have died for the distress they must have caused."

Mencap spokesman Rob Holland, who leads the Disability Benefits Consortium, demanded an investigation and reform over the figures.

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

"We know the fit for work test is failing disabled people with devastating consequences," he said.

"Wrong decisions can mean people are left with little or no support at all, in some cases struggling to pay for their homes and basic essentials like food and heating."

Tom Pollard of mental health charity Mind added: "Some of those we represent are so worried about losing their financial support that they contemplate taking, or attempt to take, their own lives."

It's not been made clear how soon the claimants died after coming off sickness benefits. For many it appears to have been less than two weeks.

Officials have also refused to give a measure of how the deaths compare to the population at large.

(Image: Daily Mirror)

Other figures today show another 6,700 ESA claimants died in two years after being put in the 'work-related activity group', meaning they could move towards a job.

They were more than twice as likely to die as people in the general population - around 5 deaths per 1,000 people compared to 2.4.

That's despite the Budget docking that same group's benefits by £30 a week, making them the same as people on jobseekers' allowance.

Today's mammoth release covers 11 years of data from 2003 to 2014 and shows overall death rates among benefit claimants have fallen.

Deaths among all benefits claimants have fallen from 8.2 per 1,000 people in 2003 to 7.2 per 1,000 people in 2013.

The national rate is around 2.4 per 1,000 people.

Tories claim it's 'irresponsible' to draw a link between someone dying and their benefits being stopped.

The last figures were released by the DWP in 2012 after a Freedom of Information campaign by the Mirror's investigative team.

They showed 1,300 ESA claimants died within six weeks of being placed in a 'work-related activity' group between January and November 2011.

In April the Department for Work and Pensions was ordered to release fresh figures by the Information Commissioner watchdog.

But instead of releasing them it appealed to a tribunal with a letter that says the real number of deaths is 'likely to be misinterpreted'.

Officials added: "Incorrect conclusions were likely to be drawn as to causal links between assessment outcomes and mortality.

"Such misinterpretations would be contrary to the public interest, particularly given the emotive and sensitive context of mortality statistics."

The department now appears to have reversed that decision.

A DWP spokesman said today: "The mortality rate for people who have died while claiming an out-of-work benefit has fallen over a 10-year period.

"This is in line with the mortality rate for the general working-age population.

"The Government continues to support millions of people on benefits with an £80bn working-age welfare safety net in place."