Are more people over 50 claiming sickness benefits than in the past?

18th August 2025

Over the last decade the number of people claiming sickness and health-related benefits in the UK has risen noticeably, and this increase is particularly pronounced among older working-age groups.

Official caseloads show millions of people now receiving incapacity or disability-related support: in early 2024 around four million people in England and Wales were recorded as claiming such benefits. This is a rise on the previous year.

More detailed analyses of trends over time reveal that working‑age disability benefit claimants have grown from roughly 2.2 million in 2019-20 to about 3.2 million in 2023-24, an increase of nearly forty percent.

Looking further back, entitlement to disability benefits has expanded substantially since the early 2000s: the number of people identified as entitled rose from under four million in 2002 to almost seven million by 2024.

The rise in claimant numbers is not evenly spread across all age groups. Much of the growth is concentrated among older workers: those in their fifties and early sixties now make up a larger portion of the incapacity-benefit caseload than they did in earlier years. Part of this shift reflects demographic change. The UK population has aged and policy changes such as increases in the state pension age, which have left more people in older working-age bands who are statistically more likely to experience health problems and claim out-of-work sickness support.

Administrative figures show that, relative to past decades, older age groups (notably women approaching state pension age) account for a growing share of the total increase.

Beyond demographics and pension-age effects, several other factors appear to have contributed. Health trends since the COVID‑19 pandemic including the emergence of long COVID and broader declines in population health have been associated with a rise in people reporting longer‑term symptoms and difficulties returning to work.

At the same time, pressures in the health system, for example longer waiting times for diagnosis and treatment, can delay recovery and prolong the duration of benefit claims.

Economic pressures, shifts in labour market dynamics, and the way benefit assessments and claims route through systems such as Universal Credit have also influenced both who claims and how long people remain on benefits.

Independent analyses underline that recent increases in inflows to disability benefits have been unusually large compared with historical patterns and with many other countries.

Where previously claimant numbers moved more slowly, the past few years have seen much larger annual increases in new claims. Analysts point to a mix of supply-side factors in the economy and health system, demand-side needs among older workers, and policy or administrative changes that together help explain the size and persistence of the recent rise.

Taken together, the evidence supports the conclusion that more people in their fifties and early sixties are claiming sickness‑related benefits today than in the past. The increase is driven by an interaction of demographic change, post-pandemic health effects, NHS and labour-market pressures, and policy influences that have altered both the composition and the size of the caseload.

DWP official stats
4.0 million people in England & Wales were claiming an incapacity or disability benefit in February 2024 up 9% on February 2023.


Institute for Fiscal Studies
Working-age disability benefit claimants rose from 2.2m (2019-20) to 3.2m (2023-24) — ~39% growth; inflows into disability benefits roughly doubled (≈250k → ≈490k per year) since 2019–20. The IFS also finds the recent rise is unusually large compared with many other similar countries.
Institute for Fiscal Studies

Office for Budget Responsibility
The incapacity benefits caseload rose by 330,000 (12.3%) between 2008–09 and 2023–24, with much of that increase concentrated in older age groups (notably women aged 60–64) — partly because the state pension age increased, bringing more older people into the working-age benefit cohort.
Office for Budget Responsibility

House of Commons Library
DWP: the number entitled to a disability benefit in Great Britain rose from 3.9m (May 2002) to 6.9m (Feb 2024) — prevalence and entitlement have both risen, and disability is much more common at older ages.
House of Commons Library

ONS / gov.uk analysis of 50–64s
A growing share of people aged 50–64 report health reasons for leaving their last job (27.9% in 2024), consistent with an increased flow from work into sickness/inactivity among older workers.
GOV.UK

A further article can be read at
Sunday Telegraph Article