News Release

Embargo: for publication after 00.00hrs 19 July 2001

Well Enough to Work?
Publication of DWP Research Report No 145

A hard copy of this report is available from the DWP Analytical Services Department web site.

A new report, published today by the Department for Work and Pensions, examines the characteristics, attitudes to work and labour market experience of clients moving between Jobseeker's Allowance and Incapacity Benefit, who experience both unemployment and sickness or disability. The study is written by Karl Ashworth and Yvette Hartfree, Centre for Research in Social Policy, and Augusta Stephenson, Policy Studies Institute.

The report is based on secondary analysis of the datasets from two earlier studies by the Department of Social Security: the Jobseeker's Allowance evaluation survey and the Leaving Incapacity Benefit survey.

The main findings are:

• Among those who left Incapacity Benefit (IB) voluntarily, 67% had moved into work within a month of leaving benefit and 10% moved onto Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA). Among those who were disallowed IB(1), 10% moved immediately into work and 32% onto JSA.
• Movers between JSA and IB experienced a combination of barriers to work. 62% of entrants to JSA from IB reported a work-limiting health problem, as did 69% of those on JSA who later moved onto IB(2). 30% of JSA claimants who remained on JSA also reported such a health problem.
• Movers have fewer qualifications than other groups and were more likely to report problems with basic skills. Among movers from JSA to IB, 48% had no qualifications, 14% reported numeracy problems and 22% literacy problems. Among entrants to JSA from IB, 39% had no qualifications, 9% reported numeracy and 13% literacy problems.
• Those who moved between JSA and IB tended to be older than other claimants leaving these benefits. The average age of those leaving JSA for IB was 40, compared with an average age for all JSA leavers of 34. Entrants to JSA from IB averaged 38 years of age, compared with 33 overall.
• A comparison of 'interview-rates' - the ratio of job interviews achieved to jobs applied for - showed that movers were the least successful job applicants. Movers from JSA to IB achieved a rate of 4 in 100, compared with 14 in 100 for those who moved into work/education/training. The interview-rate among movers from IB to JSA was 12, compared with 16 for all JSA entrants.
• Clients who left JSA for IB were as likely to have seen a Disability Employment Adviser (DEA) as other JSA claimants. 22% of ex-IB recipients on JSA had seen a DEA, compared with 14% of other entrants to JSA.
• IB leavers who moved onto JSA were less likely than other IB leavers to have access to financial resources other than benefits. 79% had no savings, compared with 70% of all leavers, and 18% had a partner working full time during their IB claim, compared with 25% of all leavers.
• Five to ten months after moving onto JSA from IB, 50% were still on JSA. These clients were less likely than those who had left JSA to have had a partner working full time during their spell on IB, more likely to live in social housing, less likely to be homeowners and more likely to have been unemployed prior to their IB claim. 69% of this group reported that their health had not improved since they left IB.
• Over a third of movers to JSA from IB had become inactive due to sickness or disability five to ten months later. This group was more likely to report a persistent health problem, to have appealed against their disallowance of IB and to have had a longer period on IB.

Notes to editors

(1) 'Disallowance' is the term used when a client's claim for IB is terminated, usually because the client has 'failed' a medical assessment. This assessment measures whether the client's incapacity is such that being available for and seeking work is no longer a condition of entitlement to benefit. Failure of the test would mean that JSA is deemed the appropriate benefit for the client to claim.

(2) JSA claimants were asked about their health at both interviews, which were between six and 11 months apart. Of those who had left JSA for IB, some were already sick or disabled at their first interview and moved to IB before the second, while others became sick or disabled after their first interview but had moved to IB before the second.

The Jobseeker's Allowance study was based on a cohort of unemployed benefit recipients who were sampled and itnerviewed twice prior to the introduction of JSA in October 1996, and a second cohort simliarly studied after the introduction of JSA. In addition to the point-in-time interviews, data were also collected on the work and benefit histories of recipients in the two years prior to the first interview and in the time period between the two interviews. The time between selection for the study and the end of the observation period varied from six to eleven months and averaged nine months.

The Leaving Incapacity Benefit Survey sampled a 'flow' of people who were leaving IB at around the same time (after the introduction of the All Work Test in 1995). The sample included voluntary and disallowed leavers, but credits only cases (whose National Insurance record means that they are not eligible to receive a financial reward of IB, but who receive National Insurance contributions through an IB claim) were excluded from the survey. Participants took place in face to face interviews between 5 and 10 months after leaving the benefit. A postal follow-up interview was carried out some 12 to 18 months after they had left the benefit.

References

Smith, A, Youngs, R, Ashworth, K, McKay, S and Walker, R (2000) Understanding the Impact of Jobseekers' Allowance (DSS Research Report No 111) Leeds: CDA. The report is available from the Department's web site.

Dorsett, R, Finlayson, L, Ford, R, Marsh, A, White, M, Zarb, G (1998) Leaving Incapacity Benefit (DSS Research Report No 86) Leeds: CDA.