Increases in the state pension age have contributed to a rise in the number of Brits claiming working age benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), new research shows.
The Resolution Foundation’s ‘Under Strain’ report shows that real spending on these payments has risen by a third over the past decade and disability benefits have risen by 89 per cent, including the Personal Independence Payment (PIP). Spending on healthcare-related benefits for people of working age increased from £28 billion to £43 billion over this period.
According to the think tank, changes in the state pension age and a growing older population in Britain are contributing to an increase in government spending on disability benefits.
Between 2013 and 2023, the number of new claims for payments such as PIP increased by 25 percent, the equivalent of 272,000
Based on the Resolution Foundation’s findings, a retirement age means more older people will have to claim working-age benefits instead of retirement benefits such as attendance benefits.
Furthermore, recipients of disability benefits typically continue to claim them once they reach retirement age.
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This will remain the case until a situation prompts a reassessment by the DWP and they move to a pension equivalent benefit.
The growing workload is cited as the reason behind the projected increase in disability benefit spending between 2013-14 and 2028-29.
In 2012-2013, around 5.9 million or 16 percent of working-age adults in Britain reported having a disability.
However, in the period 2022-2023, this figure has risen to 8.9 million, almost a quarter of the working population.
In its report, the Resolution Foundation said: ‘Overall, it is easy to understand why political anxiety is running high when it comes to the increase in healthcare-related benefits in working age. decade? A plausible explanation is demographic change.
“The UK population is aging and it is clear that older people are more likely to have a disabling health condition or disability than people in younger age groups.”
The state pension age is currently 66 and is expected to rise to 67 between 2026 and 2028.
A further increase to age 68 is planned to occur sometime in 2044 and 2046, but some analysts have suggested bringing this forward sooner.
In its recommendations to cut benefits, the Foundation urges any future government to tackle why so many working-age people in Britain have health problems that make it difficult for them to stay in work.
In particular, the think tank indicated that the NHS and other public services will have a key role to play in tackling this problem.
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Spending on DWP disability benefits has increased dramatically over the past decade
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Lindsay Judge, research director at the Resolution Foundation, explained: “Real spending on disability and disability benefits has increased by £15 billion over the past decade, despite several policy initiatives to reduce it.
‘Spending will also accelerate in the coming years, with a further £20 billion per year by the end of the decade.
‘The underlying increase in poor health and disability poses a major challenge for policymakers and for the millions of people whose living standards are affected by their circumstances.
“There are no easy solutions to this problem. This isn’t because people are gaming the system, or because support is somehow easier to claim. Nor is it true that a so-called “benefit cap” would provide easy, painless savings.