HALF of British town are on sick pay.

The name of the town is a funny coincidence. From Daily Mail:

It was once a bustling centre for the textile industry with thousands hard at work in the cotton mills.

But now Falinge in Rochdale has been branded the sick-note capital of Britain with almost half the population apparently too ill to work.

An astonishing 42.9 per cent of all working-age adults living in the council ward are claiming incapacity benefits.

The Office of National Statistics revealed that 490 of the 1,141 people of working age in the area rely on the handout.

The figures are a major blow to the Government which claims new measures are helping those on incapacity benefits get back to work.