Benefits system is ‘not designed’ for Britain’s 2.3m long-term sick

THE benefits system is ill-equipped to deal with surging long-term sickness, as 2.3m people are signed off without having to look for work.

This warning comes from the Resolution Foundation, highlighting the challenges facing the next government as Universal Credit will be fully rolled out to 7m families.

The number of benefit claimants out of work from ill-health has nearly doubled since Universal Credit was first introduced in 2013 to 2.3m, its research noted. While health-related inactivity is near a record high, the unemployment rate has plunged from 8.5pc in 2011 to only 3.8pc last year.

Meanwhile, there are only 35,000 British couples with children where one or both parents are out of work.

The benefits system will need to change to reflect this, the think tank said. The report said: “Whoever wins the election will be governing a ‘Universal Credit Britain’, as the final stage of what has been the biggest benefit reform in a generation is due to end with a system covering 7m families by 2029.”

The Government has recently announced changes to Universal Credit that are designed to encourage people with ill-health to seek work. This includes assessing whether someone can work from home before signing them off as sick.

Whichever party wins the next general election would need to build on these plans, while recognising that the benefit could not by itself tackle

growing sickness problems, according to the foundation.

Alex Clegg, from the Resolution Foundation, said: “Universal Credit was designed to address unemployment – to encourage people who can work through incentives and increased conditionality such as stricter rules and sanctions. None of that applies if the system deems you unable to work or having limited capability to work. You don’t have that kind of conditionality so you fall outside of what Universal Credit was designed to do.”

More than a third of the benefit caseload is for people who are not expected to work at all as they are deemed too unwell. The warning comes as a rise in poor mental health and musculoskeletal problems has pushed up the number of people too unwell to work since the pandemic.

The Office for National Statistics estimates there are 2.7m people who are not in work or looking for a job because of health problems. This is 600,000 more than before Covid.

The think tank said that the benefits system will struggle to meet the challenge of rising inactivity from sickness.

Mr Clegg said: “We cannot expect Universal Credit on its own to solve those problems.”