LONDON—The number of people in England and Wales claiming disability benefits due to mental health conditions has surged by 500,000 since the pandemic, according to research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). The findings underscore growing concerns about the UK’s welfare system as the government considers cuts to curb rising costs.
The IFS report highlights an escalating mental health crisis, linking it to an increase in “deaths of despair,” higher demand for mental health services, and a sharp rise in disability benefit claims. Mental illness alone accounts for more than half of the 900,000 additional working-age claimants receiving disability benefits between 2019 and 2024.
The crisis has exacerbated labor shortages, contributed to inflation, and placed significant financial strain on the government. Welfare spending on incapacity and disability benefits is projected to exceed £100 billion ($129 billion) by 2030, a challenge for Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves as she seeks to balance demands for increased funding in defense, the National Health Service, and public infrastructure.
Iain Porter, senior policy adviser at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which co-funded the research with the Health Foundation, warned against relying on benefit cuts as a solution. “We need our government to look carefully at the health of the nation, rather than relying on benefit cuts to fix the problem,” Porter said.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has also acknowledged the crisis, telling Labour lawmakers on Monday that the current welfare system is “unsustainable, indefensible, and unfair.” The number of Britons aged 16 to 64 who are economically inactive—neither employed nor seeking work—has risen by more than 700,000 since late 2019, reaching 9.3 million. Nearly 2.8 million people now cite long-term illness as the reason for their inactivity.
With the government set to release a green paper addressing these issues, all eyes are on how policymakers will tackle the root causes of the nation’s deteriorating mental health while managing the escalating welfare bill.
