Almost one million people claiming mental health benefits since lockdown

Almost a million people have begun claiming universal credit (UC) for mental health problems since the end of lockdown in January 2022, the Telegraph has reported.

Between then and February 2024, there were 978,300 claims for UC linked to mental health conditions. This is an increase of more than 100,000 from just three months earlier, November 2023.

The data, published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), shows that mental and behavioural disorders are the biggest single reason for people making UC health claims. They are cited in 69% of cases for people who are out of work.

The DWP figures also showed that more working-age women are claiming UC for health reasons than men. For people above retirement age, the reverse was true.

According to the DWP, 38% of claimants were aged over 50 and 10% were under 25.

The data reveals that 65% of claims since April 2019 were awarded to people who never have to look for work. Claimants in this category were awarded an extra £5,000 a year on top of the standard £5,000-a-year payment.

Of the 2.6 million health claims processed by the DWP over the four-period from April 2019, period, 16% were rejected, while 19% were classified as “limited capability for work.” This means they do not receive extra money but a smaller proportion of their benefits are taken back by the state once they start working.

‘Long waits for treatment’ to blame for worklessness

The Conservatives have promised to get rid of the work capability assessment that determines UC benefits awards. This is part of a wider overhaul of benefits aimed at saving £12bn a year by the end of the decade.

Labour has also said it intends to bring more people back into the workplace.  Its manifesto said that “too many people are out of work or not earning enough.” It blamed “long waits for treatment of health conditions, particularly mental health.”

It added: “Our system will be underpinned by rights and responsibilities – people who can work, should work – and there will be consequences for those who do not fulfil their obligations.”

The number of adults neither in a job nor looking for one as a result of ill health has reached a record high of 2.83 million. Inactivity rose to more than 9.4 million in the three months to April, the highest since 2011.

Karen Ward, chief market strategist at JP Morgan Asset Management and a former adviser to the Treasury, told the Telegraph that the crisis meant either party would struggle to improve growth over the course of the next parliament.

She said: “We’ve got two big problems here in the UK that the rest of the developed world doesn’t have. Businesses for whatever reason won’t invest. The other problem is our participation – this fall that we’ve had in people working – that just isn’t echoed elsewhere.”

The increase in inactivity was a threat to growth, she added: “We have an ageing population and we need everyone we can get [to work]”.

She also added that it was not necessarily the case that bringing down NHS waiting lists would resolve the problem: “I think [the participation rate] will recover, but it’s not something that is going to recover in the next couple of years. The problem is we are slightly puzzled by what is driving it.”