Wales
Working-age out-of-work benefit recipients
Key points
- The number of working-age claimants of out-of-work benefits has fallen by a fifth over the last decade.
- Most of the fall has in unemployed claimants, the numbers of whom have halved over the period. In contrast, the number of sick or disabled claimants has remained broadly unchanged.
- Sickness or disability is the main reason why working-age people claim out-of-work benefits in Wales. In 2007, two-thirds of the working-age people – 210,000 people – receiving an out-of-work benefit were classified as sick or disabled.
- Mental or behavioural disorder is the medical condition most likely to be exhibited by working-age people who are claimants of out-of-work disability benefits, namely Incapacity Benefit (IB) or Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA). This is two-fifths of all claimants.
- A further fifth of those who are claimants of IB or SDA have musculoskeletal disorders. Although just over half of them are men, this still means that only a tenth of all long term claimants of IB or SDA are men suffering from musculoskeletal disorders. Any image of this group as being made up mainly of 'older men with bad backs' is therefore clearly misleading.
- Two-fifths of working-age recipients of disability benefits are aged less than 45.
- Two-and-a-half times as many working-age people in Merthyr Tydfil and Blaenau Gwent are in receipt of out-of-work benefits as in Monmouthshire.
- Wales has more people in receipt of out-of-work benefits than in most of Great Britain. This is mainly because it has a high number of people who are both sick or disabled and out-of-work.
- The level of Income Support for both families with children and pensioners has gone up much faster than inflation in recent years. In contrast, that for working-age adults without children has remained constant in real terms. See the UK indicator on benefit levels.
Graph 1: Over time
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Graph 2: By reason
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Graph 3: By age
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Graph 4: By LA
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Map
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Graph 5: Compared to GB
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Definitions and data sources
The first graph shows the numbers of working-age people claiming one or more 'key out-of-work benefits'.
'Key out-of-work benefits' is a DWP term which covers the following benefits: Jobseeker's Allowance, Income Support, Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance and Carer's Allowance. Note that this list is slightly different from 'key benefits', which also include Disability Living Allowance.
For each year, the total is broken down by type of claimant, namely: unemployed, sick or disabled, lone parents, carers and others.
As can be seen from the first graph, the majority of claimants of key out-of-work benefits are sick or disabled. In this context, the second graph provides, for the latest year, a breakdown of recipients of Incapacity Benefit or Severe Disablement Allowance by reason.
The third graph shows, for the latest year, an age breakdown for those who in receipt of either Incapacity Benefit or Severe Disablement Allowance.
The fourth graph shows, for the latest year, how the proportion of the working-age population who are in receipt of a key out-of-work benefit varies by local authority. The map shows the same data but by super output area.
The fifth graph shows, for the latest year, how the proportion of working-age people in receipt of key out-of-work benefits in Wales compares with the rest of Great Britain, with the data shown separately according to whether or not the individuals are sick or disabled.
The data source for all the graphs and map is the DWP Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study. The data is for the month of February of each year. The data has been analysed to avoid double-counting of those receiving multiple benefits by matching data from individual samples. ONS population estimates have been used to calculate the proportions in the fourth and fifth graphs.
Overall adequacy of the indicator: high. The data is thought to be very reliable and is based on information collected by the DWP for the administration of benefits.