The benefits system is so laden with complexities it discourages people from applying for help, a Bradford MP has warned.

Bradford North MP Terry Rooney, chairman of the Work and Pensions committee, told the Commons a string of new laws from successive Governments were slowing the system and making it hard to fathom.

In a debate on benefits simplification he said the Department for Work and Pensions dealt with 40 different benefits and "certain groups" were put off from handing in claims.

He said: "The primary function of the department is to receive people's claims who are in distressed circumstances, to minimise the period that that circumstance applies and to get those people back into work in the shortest possible time.

"Sadly for certain groups of people the very complexity of the benefits system actually discourages people from doing this."

Mr Rooney told the Telegraph & Argus that people in Bradford were suffering because of the complexity.

He said: "Due to the complexity people do not get what they are entitled to when they cannot work and then when they can go back to work the system stops them doing so because it is so complex."

Last month the Government announced thousands of people claiming sickness benefits in Bradford faced tough new tests designed to get them back into work.

Work and Pensions Secretary Peter Hain unveiled plans to overhaul the current system that he hoped would stop the "sicknote" culture in Britain.