More Than Two-Thirds of Benefits Assessments Recorded Mental or Behavioural Disorders

Commuters walk across the London Bridge during the morning rush hour, amid an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London, Britain, on Sept. 17, 2020. Hannah McKay/Reuters

More than two-thirds of benefits assessments recorded behavioural and mental disorders, according to government statistics showing the number of people with a health condition or disability restricting their ability to work.

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) statistics published on Thursday showed that in Great Britain, 874,000 assessments carried out between January 2022 to November 2023 recorded mental and behavioural disorders in Universal Credit Work Capacity Assessment (WCA) decisions. This represents 69 percent of the 1.275 million decisions made by Universal Credit health.

Universal Credit health’s caseload revealed that this proportion was lower for those deemed capable for work (55 percent) and higher for those found to have limited capability for work (90 percent).

The DWP explained that “claimants often have complex health issues and can thus be recorded with multiple conditions,” meaning that those with recorded mental and behavioural disorders may have other health issues recorded with Universal Credit.

Unlike one of its predecessors, the income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Universal Credit health assessments do not record a primary health condition and “as such, Universal Credit WCA medical conditions convey all recorded medical conditions, but do not relate to a primary medical condition.”

The second-highest recorded condition was diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue, some 610,000 (48 percent) claimants.

Universal Credit is a payment to help people with living costs and is available to those on a low income, out of work, or who cannot work. It was introduced in 2013 in stages to replace six other benefits and tax credits: the ESA, Housing Benefit, Child Tax Credit, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), Income Support, and Working Tax Credit.

Two Million People on Universal Credit Health

The DWP also revealed that across England, Scotland, and Wales in December 2023, two million people were on Universal Credit health, representing 31 percent of all people on Universal Credit and up 4 percent on December 2022.

The figure is also compared to 1.6 million one year earlier, up 24 percent. The DWP told The Epoch Times that this increase was due “in part to the replacement of legacy benefits,” such as the ESA.

The WCA determines whether a person has a limited capacity for work or work-related activity and if they must look for work or perform other work-related activities.

Of the two million on Universal Credit health, 347,000 (18 percent) were assessed as having a Limited Capacity for Work, meaning they are required to participate in work-related activity “to help move them toward the labour market.”

While 1.4 million (69 percent) were deemed as having a Limited Capacity for Work and Work-Related Activity. This group is not required to undertake any interviews or work-related activity.

Ill Health ‘Driving’ Rising Numbers of People on Benefits

Responding to the statistics, Christopher Rocks, the lead economist for the Health Foundation’s Commission for Healthier Working Lives, said that “ill health is driving the rising number of people on out-of-work benefits, and damaging the economy, so it’s crucial to understand the health challenges faced by people claiming Universal Credit.”

Mr. Rocks continued that “a tailored approach will be key to helping people back into work. This will require more detailed statistics on claimants’ health conditions over time, broken down by demographics at a local level. Such information would enable local areas and employment programme providers to target support effectively, taking better account of health needs.”

In an interview with The Times of London last week, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the government should be supporting “everyone who can to work.”

“We should be supporting them into that. As well as fairness to the entire system, but also to make sure that we can sustainably keep cutting taxes,” Mr. Sunak said.

He continued: “We now have almost 2.5 million working-age people who have been signed off as unfit to work or even look for work or think about working and I don’t think that’s right. We now sign off three times as many people to be out of work than we did a decade ago. That just doesn’t strike me as a system that’s working properly.”

Welfare Reforms

In November, the government announced its Back to Work Plan, which aims to assist up to 1.1 million people with disabilities, long-term health conditions, or long-term unemployment to look for work and stay employed.

A DWP spokesperson told The Epoch Times on Friday: “We are taking the long-term decisions to help everyone who can work to do so, improving lives and growing the economy.

“Our landmark welfare reforms will cut the number of people due to be put onto the highest tier of incapacity benefits by over 370,000 and instead give them personalised support, while our Chance to Work Guarantee will enable people to try work without fear of losing their benefits.”

“In total our £2.5 billion Back to Work Plan will help over a million people to break down barriers to work, including those with disabilities and long-term health conditions,” the spokesman added.

The department also said that it was expanding access to mental health services in an effort to tackle one of the main reasons for sickness absence, including putting an additional 384,000 people through NHS Talking Therapies over the next five years.