Last week the Government released more information on their planned tightening of eligibility to disability benefits, with striking figures on health conditions and age. A short thread (1/8)
Claimants with back pain or arthritis are much more likely to lose some/all of their disability benefits (on average around £4,500 a year) than claimants whose main condition is anxiety, depression or autism. (2/8)
Relatedly, older disability benefit claimants are also much more likely to be affected by the changes to eligibility than younger claimants. (3/8)
These figures are counter to some of the initial coverage of the reform (and admittedly my expectations) which suggested that claimants with mental health problems might be most affected. (4/8)
Two bits of context: these figures show how many current claimants would lose their Daily Living award if they were reassessed and got the same scores again. No current claimant will be affected until they get reassessed, when they may score more points such that they can keep their award. (6/8)
The OBR think there will be a large behavioural response along these lines: claimants and assessors changing behaviour because of the new criteria. They suggest behavioural responses will roughly half the impacts of the reform. (7/8)
May 8, 2025 13:54Second piece of context. The government currently rarely reassesses Personal Independence Payment claimants over state pension age. If they continue to do this, current claimants who are over state pension age will be mostly shielded from this reform. (8/8)
