Disability benefit claims rise by 1.8 million in five years, report finds
A new report has found that disability benefit claims among working-age people in Britain have risen by 1.8 million between 2019-20 and 2024-25, exceeding the total number of First World War servicemen who claimed disability benefits. The Centre for Social Justice study raises serious concerns about whether Britain's welfare system is discouraging employment rather than supporting those who cannot work.
Mental health-related benefit claims have soared 180 per cent since 2012, with 6.7 million people now receiving out-of-work benefits. A key concern is the "benefits trap": a person receiving Universal Credit with health and housing support, plus Personal Independence Payment, can receive £27,400 tax-free annually, which exceeds what a minimum-wage worker would take home at £33,000 salary. The report found that roughly one quarter of full-time workers earn less than people on combined benefits, with 3,400 welfare hotspots identified where jobless claimants account for more than half the local working-age population.
- Disability claims in five years exceeded First World War veterans' total
- Mental health benefit claims up 180 per cent since 2012
- Combined benefits can exceed minimum wage worker earnings
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Disability benefit claims among working-age people in Britain have increased by 1.8 million in the past five years, with particularly sharp rises in mental health-related claims since 2012. This growth has prompted researchers and policymakers to investigate what might be driving the trend.
A key concern identified in recent analysis is the "benefits trap". When someone receives multiple welfare payments for health conditions and housing costs, their combined annual tax-free income can exceed what a minimum-wage worker would earn. This structure raises questions about what financial incentives the system creates for different groups.
The rising number of benefit claimants and questions about how the welfare system affects employment decisions have become central to policy discussions in Britain. Understanding the causes of increased claims and the system's potential effects on people's choices about work are now key concerns for policymakers.
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The case for
The dramatic rise in disability benefit claims—particularly the 180 per cent surge in mental health claims—suggests the system has become misaligned with its original purpose. The mathematical reality that combined benefits can exceed minimum-wage earnings creates a perverse incentive structure that may discourage work among those capable of it, draining the Treasury and potentially enabling long-term welfare dependency rather than supporting genuine disability. When roughly a quarter of full-time workers earn less than those on combined benefits, rational actors have little motivation to seek employment, raising serious questions about whether the system effectively distinguishes between those truly unable to work and those insufficiently incentivised to seek it.
The case against
Rising claims primarily reflect genuine increases in mental health conditions, better identification of previously undiagnosed disabilities, and severely constrained employment opportunities for disabled people—not moral hazard or system failure. The benefits trap argument fundamentally misunderstands disability by assuming people would work if adequately incentivised, when many face barriers that wages cannot overcome, whether medical, social, or practical. Penalising vulnerable people through reduced benefits would simply increase hardship among those with no genuine alternative; the appropriate response is to strengthen disability support and create genuinely accessible employment pathways, not to treat welfare claimants as work-shy shirkers.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “More claims for disability now than after the First World War, new report into Britain’s ‘broken benefits system’ finds”.