A rise in the state pension age has contributed to Britons claiming working age benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), new research has found.
The Resolution Foundation’s ‘Under Strain’ report found that spending on these real-time payments has risen by a third and disability benefits, including Personal Independence Payments (PIP), by 89 per cent over the past decade. Spending on working-age health benefits jumped from £28bn to £43bn over the period.
According to the think tank, changes to the state pension age and a growing older population in the UK are contributing to public spending on working-age disability benefits rising.
Between 2013 and 2023, there was a 25% increase in new claims for payments like PIP, equivalent to 272,000
Retirement age means older people are more likely to claim working-age benefits than pensioners, such as Attendance Allowance, the Resolution Foundation has found.
In addition, working-age disability benefits recipients usually still claim them once they reach retirement age.
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This is until the situation prompts a review by the DWP and they switch to a pensioner equivalent benefit.
Rising caseloads are cited as the reason for the projected increase in incapacity benefit spending between 2013-14 and 2028-29.
In 2012-13, around 5.9 million or 16 per cent of working-age adults in the UK reported having a disability.
By 2022-23, however, that figure had jumped to 8.9 million, or nearly a quarter of the working-age population.
The Resolution Foundation said in its report: “Overall, it is easy to see why political anxiety is so high about the rise in working-age health-related benefits. But what about in recent decades? One possible 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 impairment than people in younger age groups.”
The state pension age is currently 66 and is expected to rise to 67 between 2026 and 2028.
Another increase to 68 years is enacted to take place sometime between 2044 and 2046, but some analysts have suggested it be sooner.
In its recommendations to cut benefit spending, the foundation urges any future government to look at why so many people of working age in the UK have health conditions that make it difficult for them to stay in work.
In particular, the think tank suggested that the NHS and other public services will have to play a key role in tackling the problem.
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Lindsay Judge, director of research at the Resolution Foundation, explained: “Real spending on incapacity and disability benefits has increased by £15 billion over the past decade, despite several policy efforts to reduce it.
“Spending is set to accelerate over the coming years, by a further £20bn a year by the end of the decade.
“The underlying increase in ill health and disability poses a major challenge to policy makers and to the millions of people whose quality of life is affected by their conditions.
“There are no easy solutions to this problem. It’s not because people can game the system, or because it’s easier to get support. It’s also not because so-called ‘dumbing down’ benefits will bring easy and painless savings.