New report out today by Institute for Fiscal Studies colleagues on recent trends in health related benefit receipt.

Roughly 2 in 100 more people *at all ages* (16 to 64) are receiving health related benefits today, compared to 2019. Means proportionally a larger change for young people.

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The gov has an open call for evidence on their proposed changes to fit notes.

This is open to disabled people, carers and medical professionals.

It's open til 8th July

gov.uk/government/cal…

My The Guardian story (with Matthew Pearce ): Half a million unpaid carers in the UK looking after frail, ill and disabled loved ones are failing to claim the £4,200-a-year carer’s allowance despite experiencing high levels of poverty, estimates show theguardian.com/society/2024/a…

Sam Freedman It's not a complete irrelevance, in that we should not have a long-term incapacity benefit in effect substituting for an adequate sick leave/sick pay system for lower-paid workers. But the sick note stuff today was about blowing smoke to distract from the real agenda of cuts.

What gets me about Sunak’s attempts to demonise PIP is he isn’t considering PIP helps disabled people stay in work.

I receive PIP, I work 40h a week. It helps me keep my mobility equipment in working order as well as cover some expenses associated with being disabled.

I once had a great job with a great boss who enabled me to work part time from home. Then came a new boss who deliberately removed those reasonable adjustments so they could get rid of me. I've been economically inactive since. The linked 🧵 explains why
x.com/BendyGirl/stat…

Britain does not have a sicknote culture but it does have a broken social security system, labour market failings & a health service that is beyond stretched.

Dealing with these system problems is the best means of supporting people, both those who can work and those that can’t.

Reminder from Tom Clark of Joseph Rowntree Foundation analysis: single adult families with a disabled adult or child were ~4 times less likely to keeping up with the bills, ~6 times more likely to be going cold, and ~9 times more likely to be going hungry compared to non-disabled families.

“Without data, it’s quite hard to know how many of those people are getting into jobs.”

L&W deputy director Sam Avanzo Windett discusses sector-based work academy programmes (SWAPs) and the need for data on their outcomes with Josh Mellor 👇
feweek.co.uk/dwp-slammed-fo…

Simon Ashworth: 'Sector-based work academy programmes are a quick and intensive way of getting people work-ready.

We have seen them used particularly effectively in sectors with big skills shortages such as hospitality and retail.'

There has been a thoughtful intervention on addressing 'sick note Britain' today. Here it is 👇

Recognising the need for coordinated cross-government action to support the building blocks of our health, including addressing poverty and improving housing.

Absurd/ignorant response from Labour, given we already have broadly similiar youth mobility deals with 10 countries and the government is trying to negotiate them with individual EU Member States

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation response to the Prime Minister's speech - Iain Porter said:

🗣️'This is an irresponsible war of words on people who already aren’t getting enough support, which the Government would rather not talk about. 1/4

Catching up on rest of PM's speech now.
The thing about closing claims for long-term unemployed is the Autumn Statement measure, text below sets it out.
Is in practice pretty similar to current rules/ powers, but more tellingly it's forecast to COST more than it saves...
🧵

Just to underline Tony's point that UK's low SSP contributes to low sickness absence - x-country relationship looks pretty clear to me.

(UK should become more normal on sickness absence: better protection, and accept this means more sick days taken) economy2030.resolutionfoundation.org/wp-content/upl…

1. For the benefits info, see today's DWP release: gov.uk/government/pub…

2. For the employment estimates, see today's OBR release: obr.uk/supplementary-…

Updated info about the WCA reforms announced in the Autumn Statement makes it clear that these are primarily cash-saving, rather than employment-boosting, efforts.

By 2028-29, 457,000 people are expected to lose benefits support...and only 15,400 are expected to move into work.

Figures from @Adzuna show the total number of online job adverts on 12 April 2024 decreased by 2% when compared with the previous week 💻

This was 19% below the level seen for the equivalent period of 2023.

Where we do have a big problem tho is rising worklessness. 'Economic inactivity' is higher now than it was in depths of pandemic, and long-term ill health is biggest driver.
BUt as this from Office for Budget Responsibility shows it's being driven by people *already out of work* for more than three years