The number of people on disability benefits has been steadily
rising – from 2% of the working-age population in the early 1990s
(591,000) to 6% in 2020–21 (2.2 million) – in spite of a 2013
reform which explicitly aimed to reduce numbers. In other signs
of a system under strain, on average claimants are now waiting
about five months between applying for benefits and receiving
them. This likely contributes to the link between disability and
deprivation: disabled people now make up nearly half of the most
deprived working-age adults in the country.
These are among the new findings from IFS research released today
funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which is a pre-released
report as part of next week’s annual flagship report on Living
Standards, Poverty and Inequality in the UK.
The report also finds that:
- The growth in disability benefit claims has been primarily
driven by an increased prevalence of mental health
conditions. Four-fifths of the rise in the number of
disability benefit recipients over the past two decades is
accounted for by those with psychiatric conditions (such as
mental health problems and learning disabilities) as their main
disabling condition. They now make up almost half (44%; 944,000)
of all working-age disability benefit claimants.
- These changes have come alongside a big shake-up in the
disability benefit system over the past decade. Since 2012
disability living allowance (DLA) has been replaced by personal
independence payment (PIP), a process that is now nearly
finished. The reform was intended to reduce spending on
disability benefits by 20%.
- But instead, since PIP started to be introduced, spending on
disability benefits has in fact markedly increased – and at a
faster rate than before the policy change. Spending just
prior to the pandemic was around £11 billion per year, whereas
forecasts from before the reform had expected it to be around £6½
billion.
Although an increasing number of people are getting disability
benefits, only about a third of those who report a disability (a
long-standing and limiting condition) receive these benefits:
- Of the most deprived tenth of the
working-age population, 1.5 million (44%) are also
disabled. But most of these disabled people – 1.1
million – do not receive disability benefits.
- This could be because they are ineligible (e.g. their
condition is deemed not serious enough) or because they are
eligible but do not claim. But it may also relate to the
waiting times to receive disability benefits: the median wait
time between applying for and receiving disability benefits is
now 20 weeks, meaning half of people wait even longer
than this.
- Of these million disabled and deprived people who do not get
disability benefits, 59% are not in paid work, 58% are women, 77%
do not have a degree, 58% are single, and 60% have mental health,
social or behavioural problems. These are all higher proportions
than for the overall working-age disabled population.
Heidi Karjalainen, a Research Economist at IFS and an
author of the paper, said:
‘Over the past three decades, the fraction of working-age people
claiming disability benefits has increased from 2% to 6%, with
much of the rise driven by growth in claims for mental health or
other psychiatric problems. This reflects an increasing rate of
mental health conditions across society as a whole. If this trend
continues – or is even hastened by the pandemic – it will add
further pressure to disability benefit spending.’
Tom Waters, a Senior Research Economist at IFS and an
author of the paper, said:
‘Of those with the lowest material living standards, about a
third are both disabled and not getting disability benefits.
These people are, compared with other disabled people,
disproportionately likely to be single, female, less formally
educated, and not in paid work. In some cases, they do not
receive disability benefits because their condition is not of the
sort or severity that the disability benefit system supports.
Others will be eligible but not claim – perhaps because they find
the application process too difficult. But some will simply be
waiting to receive their benefits – median
waiting times are now about five months. As recently as 2018, the
average wait time was three months.’
Peter Matejic, Deputy Director of Evidence and Impact at
the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said:
‘Most people would be shocked to learn people living with serious
health conditions are waiting on average five months for
life-changing financial support, with half facing longer wait
times than this.
‘There is clear evidence disabled people face a higher cost of
living. Delays this long are likely to have led many to go
without essentials like food or basic hygiene in the
cost-of-living crisis.
‘The majority of the most deprived disabled people are not on
disability benefits. Some of this will be due to ineligibility
for support or choosing not to apply, but it is also likely that
having to wait almost half a year for payments to start will lead
to frustrated claimants giving up and not getting the cash they
are entitled to.
‘A just, compassionate society would not have people living with
a disability being more likely to be in poverty than people who
aren’t disabled. Yet, nearly half of everyone in poverty is
either disabled or lives with a disabled person. This shows that
the benefits system must fundamentally change, so it properly
supports the millions of disabled people in this country.’
