Introduction

Incapacity claimants are the single largest group of working-age benefit claimants in the UK. Even in the wake of the post-2008 recession, they outnumber the unemployed on Jobseeker's Allowance ( JSA) by around one million and lone parents in receipt of Income Support by around two million. A total of 2.6 million adults of working age were out of the labour market on incapacity benefits in 2010 – 7% of the entire working-age population.

A sound understanding of just who makes up the stock of incapacity claimants, and why, is clearly important. Not least, this information is potentially helpful in trying to bring the numbers down. It is the government's stated intention to reduce the number claiming incapacity benefits by one million by 2016 (DWP, 2006, 2008) and there are a growing number of locally based initiatives that aim to help incapacity claimants back into work.

This chapter helps to fill the information gap by looking at how the profile of incapacity claimants has changed over the past decade. It does so primarily by drawing on survey evidence from one particular town, Barrow-in-Furness, where the incapacity claimant rate is especially high and where, uniquely, detailed survey data is available for two points in time. The chapter focuses in particular on the changing profile of the men claiming incapacity benefits but it also draws comparisons with the women claiming incapacity benefits.

As the chapter explains, the profile of incapacity claimants in Barrowin- Furness is likely to be shared by many other older industrial areas. The radical changes in the composition of the stock of male incapacity claimants, identified in Barrow, therefore have important implications for welfare-to-work initiatives across Britain as a whole.

The next part of the chapter provides a brief introduction to incapacity benefits and the ‘hidden unemployment’ debate. This is followed by a short description of Barrow-in-Furness and the two surveys. The main body of the chapter then presents key findings. The final part sets out an explanation for the substantial changes that can be observed and the implications for public policy.

Incapacity benefits: a brief introduction

Incapacity benefits are paid to men and women of working age (that is 16-64 for men, 16-59 for women) who are out of work but deemed too ill or disabled to be required to look for work.