{"id":384776,"date":"2026-03-14T12:10:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T12:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/384776\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T12:10:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T12:10:15","slug":"warning-for-people-claiming-dwp-benefits-for-a-mental-health-condition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/384776\/","title":{"rendered":"Warning for people claiming DWP benefits for a mental health condition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Almost nine times higher than the pre-pandemic level of 380,000 in December 2019.\"Warning<\/p>\n

Warning for people claiming DWP benefits for a mental health condition<\/p>\n

Nine in 10 benefits claimants deemed too sick to work have a mental health condition, according to shocking new figures. That is almost nine times higher than the pre-pandemic level of 380,000 in December 2019.<\/p>\n

The Department for Work and Pensions said 91 per cent of claims since the end of lockdown measures in January 2022 <\/strong>were recorded as having \u201cmental and behavioural disorders\u201d.<\/p>\n

And 80 per cent of those on incapacity benefits now receive up to \u00a35,000 a year in extra cash without needing to look for a job at all. The figures were released on Thursday, and laid bare by the Telegraph newspaper.<\/p>\n

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The paper reports official forecasts by the Office for Budget Responsibility show the cost of sickness and disability benefits is set to rise to \u00a3110bn a year by the start of the next decade as caseloads continue to rise.<\/p>\n

It comes as the Labour Party<\/a> desperately tries to trim the welfare bill – despite Chancellor Rachel Reeves being met with a growing backlash.<\/p>\n

Thinktanks have urged Labour to “repair” the UK – and reduce the amount spent on DWP<\/a> claimants.<\/p>\n

Speaking earlier this week, Joe Shalam, policy director at the Centre for Social Justice, said: \u201cBritain cannot afford to keep writing off millions of people to long term welfare while the world becomes more dangerous.<\/p>\n

\u201cBehind these numbers are millions of people with talents and dreams who deserve the chance to gain all the advantages that come with work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe already spend more on health related benefits than the entire defence budget. Repairing broken Britain and helping people realise their potential is ultimately a matter of national security.\u201d<\/p>\n

It came after the CSJ reported Britain\u2019s welfare bill is set to surge by \u00a318 billion in a single year.<\/p>\n

New figures show the cost of benefits and pensions will climb to around \u00a3333 billion this year, an increase larger than the annual budgets of several government departments combined.<\/p>\n

The rise is being “driven by soaring sickness and disability claims as well as increases to pensions and benefits,” the think tank added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Almost nine times higher than the pre-pandemic level of 380,000 in December 2019. Warning for people claiming DWP…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[276],"tags":[4120,18,135,19,17,167,502],"class_list":["post-384776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-dwp","tag-eire","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116227461840590722","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}