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Disability benefit receipt and reform: reconciling trends in the United Kingdom

Author

Listed:
  • James Banks

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University of Manchester)

  • Richard Blundell

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London)

  • Carl Emmerson

    (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Institute for Fiscal Studies)

Abstract
The UK has enacted a number of reforms to the structure of disability benefits, which has made it a major case study for other countries thinking of reform. The introduction of Incapacity Benefit in 1995 coincided with a strong decline in disability benefit expenditure, reversing previous sharp increases. From 2008 the replacement of Incapacity Benefit with Employment and Support Allowance was intended to reduce spending further. We bring together administrative and survey data over the period and highlight key differences in receipt of disability benefits by age, sex and health. These disability benefit reforms and the trends in receipt are also put into the context of broader trends in health and employment by education and sex. We document a growing proportion of claimants in any age group with mental and behavioural disorders as their principal health condition. We also show the decline in the number of older working age men receiving disability benefits to have been partially offset by growth in the number of younger women receiving these benefits. We speculate on the impact of disability reforms on employment.

Suggested Citation

  • James Banks & Richard Blundell & Carl Emmerson, 2015. "Disability benefit receipt and reform: reconciling trends in the United Kingdom," IFS Working Papers W15/09, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:15/09
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Courtney Coile & Kevin Milligan & David A. Wise, 2014. "Introduction to "Social Security Programs and Retirement Around the World: Disability Insurance Programs and Retirement"," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement Around the World: Disability Insurance Programs and Retirement, pages 1-44, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Courtney Coile & Kevin S. Milligan & David A. Wise, 2014. "Social Security Programs and Retirement Around the World: Disability Insurance Programs and Retirement - Introduction and Summary," NBER Working Papers 20120, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. David A. Wise, 2012. "Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Historical Trends in Mortality and Health, Employment, and Disability Insurance Participation and Reforms," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number wise11-1.
    4. James Banks & Richard Blundell & Antoine Bozio & Carl Emmerson, 2012. "Disability, Health and Retirement in the United Kingdom," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Historical Trends in Mortality and Health, Employment, and Disability Insurance Participatio, pages 41-77, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Disney, Richard & Emmerson, Carl & Wakefield, Matthew, 2006. "Ill health and retirement in Britain: A panel data-based analysis," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 621-649, July.
    6. James Banks & Carl Emmerson & Gemma C. Tetlow, 2014. "Effect of Pensions and Disability Benefits on Retirement in the UK," NBER Working Papers 19907, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. James Banks & Richard Blundell & Carl Emmerson, 2015. "Disability Benefit Receipt and Reform: Reconciling Trends in the United Kingdom," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(2), pages 173-190, Spring.
    8. Richard Blundell & Claire Crawford & Wenchao Jin, 2014. "What Can Wages and Employment Tell Us about the UK's Productivity Puzzle?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 0(576), pages 377-407, May.
    9. Michael Anyadike-Danes & Duncan McVicar, 2008. "Has the Boom in Incapacity Benefit Claimant Numbers Passed Its Peak?," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 29(4), pages 415-434, December.
    10. Disney, Richard & Webb, Steven, 1991. "Why Are There So Many Long Term Sick in Britain?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 101(405), pages 252-262, March.
    11. Jonathan Cribb & Carl Emmerson & Gemma Tetlow, 2013. "Incentives, shocks or signals: labour supply effects of increasing the female state pension age in the UK," IFS Working Papers W13/03, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Nicolas R. Ziebarth, 2018. "Social Insurance and Health," Contributions to Economic Analysis, in: Health Econometrics, volume 127, pages 57-84, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    2. Hamish Low & Luigi Pistaferri, 2020. "Disability Insurance: Theoretical Trade‐Offs and Empirical Evidence," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(1), pages 129-164, March.
    3. Jack Britton & Eric French, 2020. "Health and Employment amongst Older Workers," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(1), pages 221-250, March.
    4. Bagaria, Nitika & Petrongolo, Barbara & Van Reenen, John, 2015. "Can Helping the Sick Hurt the Able? Incentives, Information and Disruption in a Disability-Related Welfare Reform," IZA Discussion Papers 9089, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. James Banks & Richard Blundell & Carl Emmerson, 2015. "Disability Benefit Receipt and Reform: Reconciling Trends in the United Kingdom," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(2), pages 173-190, Spring.
    6. Jennifer Roberts & Karl Taylor, 2022. "New Evidence on Disability Benefit Claims in Britain: The Role of Health and the Local Labour Market," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(353), pages 131-160, January.
    7. Bublitz, Elisabeth & Wyrwich, Michael, 2018. "Technological change and labor market integration," WiSo-HH Working Paper Series 45, University of Hamburg, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences, WISO Research Laboratory.
    8. Schreiner, Ragnhild C., 2019. "Unemployed or Disabled? Disability Screening and Labor Market Outcomes of Youths," Memorandum 5/2019, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
    9. Halapuu, Vivika, 2021. "Access to education and disability insurance claims," Working Paper Series 2021:17, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    10. Felix Koenig & Barbara Petrongolo & John Van Reenen & Nitika Bagaria, 2019. "Can Helping the Sick Hurt the Able? Incentives, Information and Disruption in a Welfare Reform," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(624), pages 3189-3218.
    11. Pichler, Stefan & Ziebarth, Nicolas R., 2024. "Sick Leave and Medical Leave in the United States: A Categorization and Recent Trends," IZA Policy Papers 206, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. James Banks & Carl Emmerson & Gemma Tetlow, 2017. "Health Capacity to Work at Older Ages: Evidence from the United Kingdom," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: The Capacity to Work at Older Ages, pages 329-357, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Bratberg, Espen & Holmås, Tor Helge & Monstad, Karin, 2017. "The causal effect of workload on the labour supply of older employees," Working Papers in Economics 16/17, University of Bergen, Department of Economics.
    14. Melanie K Jones & Duncan McVicar, 2022. "The dynamics of disability and benefit receipt in Britain [Large sample properties of matching estimators for average treatment effects]," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 74(3), pages 936-957.
    15. Bíró, Anikó & Elek, Péter, 2020. "Job loss, disability insurance and health expenditure," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    16. Cribb, Jonathan & Emmerson, Carl & Tetlow, Gemma, 2016. "Signals matter? Large retirement responses to limited financial incentives," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 203-212.
    17. Sarah Brown & William Greene & Mark Harris, 2020. "A novel approach to latent class modelling: identifying the various types of body mass index individuals," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 183(3), pages 983-1004, June.
    18. James Banks & Carl Emmerson & Gemma Tetlow, 2018. "Long-run Trends in the Economic Activity of Older People in the UK," NBER Working Papers 24606, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. De Brouwer, Octave & Tojerow, Ilan, 2023. "The Growth of Disability Insurance in Belgium: Determinants and Policy Implications," IZA Discussion Papers 16376, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Roberts, Jennifer & Taylor, Karl, 2019. "New Evidence on Disability Benefit Claims in the UK: The Role of Health and the Local Labour Market," IZA Discussion Papers 12825, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    21. Chiara Dal Bianco, 2023. "Disability Insurance and the Effects of Return-to-work Policies," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 49, pages 351-373, July.
    22. Lindley, Joanne & Mcintosh, Steven & Roberts, Jennifer & Czoski Murray, Carolyn & Edlin, Richard, 2015. "Policy evaluation via a statistical control: A non-parametric evaluation of the ‘Want2Work’ active labour market policy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 635-645.
    23. James Banks & Carl Emmerson & Gemma Tetlow, 2018. "Long-Run Trends in the Economic Activity of Older People in the United Kingdom," NBER Chapters, in: Social Security Programs and Retirement around the World: Working Longer, pages 267-297, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    24. Chiara Dal Bianco, 2023. "Disability Insurance and the Effects of Return-to-work Policies," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 49, pages 351-373, July.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination

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