Why has there been a sharp rise in health-related benefits claims in Britain but not in similar countries? Expert Q&A
Since 2019, real-terms spending on health-related benefits in Britain has increased by £12 billion and is set to continue growing, according to a new report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies. However, comparable countries, such as France, Australia and the US, have not experienced similar increases in spending. The Conversation asked Ben Geiger, a professor of social science and health at King’s College London, to explain these rises and suggest potential solutions. What are the key findings from the new IFS report? Two findings have received a lot of attention. First, more British people are claiming working-age health-related benefits than before COVID (out-of-work incapacity benefits such as universal credit are up 28%, and extra-cost disability benefits such as personal independent payment, or Pip, are up 39%). And while guessing the future is difficult, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts this will keep rising. But we knew most of this already, partly from the IFS’s previous great work. What’s really new is that they show the UK’s rise in claims is sharper – much sharper …