Guidance

Changes made to DWP statistics since April 2020

Updated 30 October 2024

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

To continue to meet user needs we regularly review our releases to look at the existing content as well as opportunities from new data and new or emerging user requirements.

The changes delivered since April 2020 across our releases are set out in 9 themes:

Cross-departmental

Accessibility

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) believes that the statistics provided must be accessible to the widest possible audience. This is not only in making statistical releases straightforward to understand, but also by ensuring the documents that we publish are accessible to those with disabilities, and work with computer software. HTML releases are designed to meet accessibility standards as they can reach many users, including those with disabilities. This is also in line with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. These regulations state that an organisation must make their website or mobile app more accessible by making it ‘perceivable, operable, understandable and robust’.

We have published an Accessibility Statement for DWP Statistics that provides full information on the strategy DWP has adopted.

The strategy is as follows:

• publishing statistical releases as fully accessible HTML documents
• publishing static tables in open source Open Document Spreadsheet format
• using Stat-Xplore for accessible underlying data and interactive graphs and tables
• ensuring that the information from interactive charts and tools are made available in an accessible format, by publishing the underlying data in accessible spreadsheets

All publications released by DWP after 23 September 2020 are fully compliant and all new iterations of statistical publications released from 23 September 2020 onward are fully compliant with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Summary statistics

DWP Benefits Statistics

This is a compendium publication that brings together key statistics on benefits administered by the department to provide a complete picture of DWP responsibility. Statistics on Housing Benefit (administered by Local Authorities) and Universal Credit are also included.

Changes delivered since April 2020:

• changed the working age methodology and statistics to reflect the rising State Pension age
• introduced more formal user engagement by forming working groups with DWP expert analysts for both pension age and Housing Benefit to ensure published data reflects policy and user need
• improved Quality Assurance consistent with The Aqua Book guidance on producing quality analysis and increased documentation of risks and assumptions
• in 2020, the statistics underwent assessment by the Office for Statistics regulation, and the published report recommended that the statistics continue to be designated as Accredited Official Statistics
• published Housing Benefit Flows data on Stat-Xplore for the first time in November 2020
• published Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit data on Stat-Xplore for the first time in June 2021
• provided data on claim times, decision times and reassessments for Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit in August and November 2021
• instead of presenting a headline Disability Living Allowance (DLA) figure for Great Britain (GB), from August 2022 using February 2022 data the DWP Benefit Statistics shows separate counts: England and Wales, and a separate Scotland figure. This demonstrates how many claims are still administered by DWP for claimants living in Scotland

Benefit Combinations

The aim of the Benefit Combinations statistics is to provide both Working Age and Pension Age statistics on the number of individuals claiming a DWP benefit in total ( only counting each individual claimant once) – and to show the key combinations of benefits claimed. The statistics have been developed using guidelines set out by the UK Statistics Authority, and as Official Statistics undergoing evaluation they have accordingly been badged as Official Statistics in development.

Changes delivered since April 2020:

• in February 2021, the publication was extended to include Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit and a marker showing the number of benefits claimed to existing series (February 2013 onwards), alongside a number of methodological changes to improve data quality and efficiency. The addition allows the series to better meet original user requirement of being able to state how many people are on benefits

• from February 2022, Bereavement Support Payment (BSP) was added to the Benefit Combinations statistics for the first time. It has been included in every quarter’s data since BSP was first introduced in April 2017. The addition of BSP allows the series to better meet the original user requirement of being able to state how many people are on benefits

• addition of Ward level detail to geographical breakdowns

• from February 2024 the Benefit Combination statistics have been extended to show whether UC claimants are on the health journey in UC and give additional details about UC conditionality groups, ESA payment type and phase of claim, PIP/DLA/AA Daily Living and Mobility Awards. These details are already publicly available on the individual benefit statistical series but have never been included on the combined benefit series before. These changes have been applied to the time series from May 2019 onwards. This allows users to understand the benefit picture for those on health and disability related benefits in greater detail than previously

Children, Families and Bereavement

Child Maintenance Service Statistics

The Child Maintenance Service statistics report on the quarterly performance of the Child Maintenance Service. Child maintenance is financial support between separated parents to help with the everyday living costs of looking after children.

Changes delivered since April 2020:

• in response to user demand, via Parliamentary Questions (PQs) and Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, more detailed information around sanctions options available to Child Maintenance Service, such as the confiscation of passports and driving licences and imprisonment, have been included in the publication
• completed a methodology review to improve how cases are assigned to Direct Pay and Collect and Pay
• in December 2020, an external user group was created. This routine interaction with external stakeholders helps ensure the data is as useful as possible both internally and publicly
• information on arrangements and children was published on Stat-Xplore during 2020. This will be maintained with the release of each new quarter and tables will be developed relating to parents for future iterations of Stat-Xplore releases
• Removal of Table 2: Application Fee Exemptions

Children in low income families: local area statistics

The Children in low income families (CiLIF) publication was first released in March 2020 and was produced jointly by DWP and HMRC. The publication provides information about the number and proportion of children living in low income families by local area. Previously, DWP and HMRC published Official Statistics on children in low income families, however these statistics did not include families on Universal Credit and thus were no longer fit-for-purpose. The new Children in Low Income Families: local area statistics publication is more comprehensive and analyses family income across all DWP benefits including Universal Credit, Tax Credits, as well as earning from employment and self-employment.

The statistics in this release complement and should be viewed as a companion to the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) release which provides survey estimates of children in low income households at national and regional level.

There has been a steady stream of interest subsequently in local news reporting and House of Commons Research Reports.

User requirement for publication:

• local area measures enable Local Authorities to target resources at smaller areas

Changes delivered since April 2020:

• the experimental statistics label was removed in March 2021 after assessment by the DWP Head of Profession for Statistics. This means that the statistics meet the high standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value and comply with the Code of Practice and reflect factors including user feedback, methodological robustness, coverage, and that the defined development phase for these statistics has ended
• to align with Household Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics the coverage of the statistics was extended to Northern Ireland in the March 2021 publication and the statistics were published solely by DWP

Separated Families Statistics

The Separated Families Statistics provides estimates of the separated families’ population and their child maintenance arrangements. Analysis also shows separated families with no arrangement. 

Changes delivered since April 2020: 

• additional tables on poverty and incomes by child maintenance arrangement type 

• a minor methodological improvement to the way we calculate the net impact of child maintenance payments on the number of children living in absolute low income 

• an additional change improves the representation of non-resident parents in the existing table breakdowns 

• during 2022 to 2023 the government announced and implemented additional support to families with several cost of living support schemes, depending on peoples’ circumstances. These payments are included in the estimates of separated families’ incomes

Employment Support Schemes

Access to Work statistics

Access to Work is a programme that aims to help people who have a disability or long-term health condition start or stay in work. The associated publication is released annually in August or September.

There are 2 main types of Access to Work provision:

• ‘Assessments’
• ‘Elements’

Assessments involve exploring workplace-related barriers to employment while Elements are intended to supplement the reasonable adjustments that employers are required to make under the Equality Act 2010.

Changes delivered since April 2020:

• terminology has been improved throughout the publication to remove ambiguity for example to provide clarification on the distinction between “new starts” and “new customers”

Restart Scheme statistics

Official Statistics in development on the Restart scheme.

New twice-yearly Official Statistics in development on the Restart Scheme.

The first release of statistics was published on 8 June 2023 and has data from July 2021 to the end of April 2023 on:

• referrals to the Restart Scheme
• starts to the Restart Scheme
• first earnings from employment
• job outcome rates and performance by contract area, month, and cohort
• participant demographics – gender, age

Work and Health Programme

The Work and Health Programme (WHP) predominantly helps disabled people, as well as the long-term unemployed and certain other priority groups (known as early access groups) to enter into and stay in work.

From November 2018, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has released Official Statistics about WHP. These provide information on a regular basis about the number of:

• referrals to WHP

• starts to WHP

• job outcomes

Changes delivered since 2020:

• first earnings from employment (added in February 2020)

• provider performance levels (added in November 2020)

• in September 2023, WHP was expanded to include a new element called WHP Pioneer, which targets economically inactive claimants in the disability and early access groups. As of May 2024, statistics have also been released to provide information on:

  • referrals to WHP Pioneer
  • starts to WHP Pioneer
• included first earnings from employment and job outcomes from WHP Pioneer

Health, Disability and Care

Employment and Support Allowance (ESA): outcomes of Work Capability Assessments (WCA)

This ESA publication presents information on both new claims and claims undergoing reassessment of incapacity benefits for Employment and Support Allowance in Great Britain.

Changes delivered since April 2020:

• in 2020 a review of Mandatory Reconsideration narrative and matching methodology was undertaken to reflect the High Court judicial review

Personal Independence Payment statistics

Personal Independent Payment (PIP) was introduced from April 2013 for new claimants and from October 2013 DWP began inviting claimants in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) who were aged between 16 and 64 years on 8 April 2013, or reached age 16 after that date, to claim PIP.

Changes delivered since April 2020:

• in June 2020, the frequency of the PIP award review and change of circumstance registration and clearance statistics was updated on a quarterly basis rather than annually; clearance and cases with entitlement (caseload) datasets will have a new measure added so that users can tabulate average amounts of money received as a PIP award (mean financial award) and a breakdown was added to all Stat-Xplore datasets to show whether a customer is of State Pension age or not. The new information was particularly important when explaining initial COVID-19 impact on processing volumes for PIP
• in December 2020, DLA reassessments to PIP outcomes of existing child DLA claimants was published. This meets internal stakeholder demand and will also contribute to reducing the number of PQs and FOIs
• addition of “Coronavirus COVID-19” disability classification into disability breakdowns to reflect the addition of the code operationally from March 2021
• showing disability as recorded at caseload date instead of at on-flow date as in the current methodology
• in December 2021, released Award Review and Change of Circumstance information in Stat-Xplore rather than ODS or Excel tables
• addition of Ward level detail to geographical breakdowns on Stat-Xplore
• the September 2023 release extended the existing Customer Journey Statistics on initial (New Claim and DLA Reassessment) PIP decisions to include decisions following an Award Review (AR) or Change of Circumstance (CoC) – tracking these decisions through to Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) and appeal
• in the December 2023 release the Annual DLA to PIP Reassessment statistics were extended to include second and subsequent attempts to claim PIP following a DLA claim, rather than just the first attempt as in the latest update (December 2022). This includes a count of the number of attempts, the outcomes of both the first and latest attempts, and the time elapsed between first and latest attempts

Housing and Heating

Housing Benefit speed of processing

The Housing Benefit speed of processing statistics show new claims and changes of circumstances separately and do not include a combined measure. Speed of processing replaced the old ‘right time indicator’.

Changes delivered since April 2020:

• included two additional statistical tables, which provide a breakdown by working age and pension age at a local authority level, for the volume of claims and average speed of processing. This data is available for both new claims and change of circumstances to existing claims

Income and Living Standards

Cold Weather Payments

The Social Fund Cold Weather Payments scheme runs from 1 November 2021 to 31 March 2022. This is known as the Cold Weather Payment season. The statistics are based on the estimated number of benefit units linked to each weather station that is eligible for Cold Weather Payments. A benefit unit is an adult and their partner (if applicable) and any dependent children living with them.

Changes delivered since April 2020:

• the weekly and monthly estimated payments for 2021 to 2022 include new breakdowns for England, Scotland and Wales, in addition to the estimates for Great Britain

Family Resources Survey

The Family Resources Survey (FRS) is a continuous household survey which collects information on a representative sample of private households in the United Kingdom. Detailed information is recorded on each respondent: their incomes, from all sources including self-employment, housing tenure, caring needs and responsibilities, disability, expenditure on housing, education, pension participation, childcare, family circumstances and child maintenance.

The primary purpose of the FRS is to provide the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) with data to inform the development, monitoring and evaluation of social welfare policy.

Changes delivered since April 2020:

• a publication consultation was held in Autumn 2020 to capture views of users of the publication
• the March 2021 publication included a section on Household Food Security for the first time. The breakdown includes the % of households with low or very low household food security and:
  • (i) whether or not they receive state benefits
  • (ii) educational attainment
  • (iii) overall level of income
• the April 2020 to March 2021 data behind the March 2022 publication tables has been added to Stat- Xplore for users to construct their own bespoke analysis
• introduction of a Sandwich Carer category in some of the Care chapter tables of the FRS 2021 to 2022 publication
• the presentation and content of the Care tables (table 5.7) has been updated to include additional breakdowns

• Income and State Support tables have been revised to ensure income from Universal Credit is included in all relevant income-related categories and breakdowns

• the March 2024 Family Resources Survey (FRS) publication included a new childcare chapter, inclusion of Cost of Living payments as part of the income variables on the FRS dataset and updating tables to reflect the Census 2011 Rural-Urban classification. 
• eight changes on specific topics were implemented in the FRS 2022 to 2023 questionnaire, following the annual questionnaire consultation exercise. Variables available on published dataset only. New questions added that are included in the dataset relate to the topics: 
  • Inheritance 
  • sheltered accommodation and supported housing 
  • rented accommodation  
  • carers and local authorities pay for care 
  • absence from work 
  • disability payment in Scotland 
  • homelessness risk

Impact of COVID-19

Please see the FRS Background and methodology note for further information on the impact of COVID-19 on the publication.

Details on the normal interview process can be found in the latest methodology note

Households Below Average Income, Pensioners’ Incomes Series and Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up publications all use the Family Resources Survey data so will be affected by the changes to FRS data collection.

The Income Dynamics (ID) publication is based on Understanding Society (USOC) data from the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex. USOC fieldwork has also been affected by COVID-19 but as a longitudinal survey the effect will be different to that on the FRS. Please see the ID background and methodology note for more information

Households Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics

The HBAI statistics report information on living standards in the UK based on household income measures. The report incorporates estimates of average incomes, income inequality, and the prevalence of low income households. HBAI uses data from Family Resources Survey (FRS).

Changes delivered since April 2020:

• methodological improvement was made to capture all income from Child Maintenance in HBAI. This has resulted in more income from child maintenance being included, which in turn slightly increased some household incomes and reduced low income rates for families with children. The full back series of HBAI statistics (back to financial year ending (FYE) 1995) was revised so that comparisons over time are on a consistent basis for the full HBAI time series of FYE 1995 to FYE 2020
• the statistics for the FYE 2020 included a new section and tables on household food security (unaffordability) based on the information collected for the first time in the FRS FYE 2020
• extension of combined low income and material deprivation measures for children included in the March 2022 publication
• publication of statistics on the use of food banks among low- income households, both over the previous 12 months and within the last 30 days of the FRS interview date
• published combined low income and material deprivation measures for Working Age adults using relative income thresholds

Income dynamics

This annual publication provides estimates of persistent low income as well as peoples’ movements within the income distribution. The Income Dynamics (ID) publication uses data from Understanding Society, a longitudinal survey run by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex.

Changes delivered since April 2020:

• improved data visualisation in the publication and included new charts and diagrams (Sankey) to illustrate income movements between periods
• events associated with movements into and out of low income was added to the March 2021 publication
• in 2020, following the completion of development work, the experimental statistics label was removed and ID was published as Official Statistics
• integration of the Immigrant and Ethnic Minority Boost sample (IEMBs) to Income Dynamics
• introduction of new events analysis associated with entries into and exits from low income

Pensions and Older People

Pensioners’ Incomes Statistics

The Pensioners’ Incomes publication reports on how much incomes pensioners get per week and the sources of these incomes. It is reported how incomes have changed over time, and how types of pensioner (single female, couples etc.) differ in incomes and sources.

Changes delivered since April 2020:

• regional and ethnicity data were published on Stat-Xplore allowing for more Pensioners’ Incomes custom tables for creation by all users
• removal of redundant age breakdown from the data tables 
• adding new data tables showing the overall income distribution and number of pensioner units with income from State Pension and state benefits only 
• including cost of living payments in the Pensioners Income estimates of income

Workplace pension participation and savings trends of eligible employees

The Workplace pension annual statistics include detailed breakdowns of the number of savers, and the amount of savings.

Changes delivered since April 2020:

• extended pension participation statistics of non-eligible for Automatic Enrolment individuals and included new statistics on private pension withdrawals

Spending, Fraud and Error

Benefit Cap Statistics

The benefit cap is a limit on the total amount of benefit a household can get. It can be applied through reducing the amount of Housing Benefit (HB) or Universal Credit (UC) received, so the total benefits no longer add up to more than the cap level.

Changes delivered since April 2020:

• in 2020, methodological changes were made to replace the data source from the Single Housing Benefit Extract (SHBE) to HB caseload and UC Full Service (UCFS) data to UC caseload data. This ensures better quality and orderly release of the statistics providing greater consistency with UC and HB Official Statistics and publication of capped households after caseload data

• in February 2021, a new time series was released for flows between HB and UC based on new methodology, which will allow for overall off-flow time series

Fraud and error in the benefit system

DWP pays benefits to over 20 million people. It is necessary to estimate how much money the department incorrectly pays, either through over or under payment. The overpayments or underpayments can occur for a number of reasons such as:

• claimant error
• official error
• a consequence of fraud.

This annual publication presents estimates of the rates of these over and underpayments as well as their respective causes (fraud and error). Benefits measured as part of DWP’s fraud and error analysis include:

• Universal Credit (UC)
• Housing Benefit (HB)
• Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Pension Credit (PC)
• Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
• Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)

Changes delivered since April 2020:

• reviewed the definitions of fraud and error in line with legislation, in particular UC underpayments
• made a methodology change to remove claimant error underpayments from the fraud and error statistics and published these as new statistics Unfulfilled Eligibility in the Benefit System (Official Statistics in development)

Attendance Allowance

Attendance Allowance (AA) has been measured for the first time following user feedback from a consultation in 2018 that identified AA as a future benefit to measure. To date a proxy has been used to measure AA for the rate of Fraud and Error. Measurement of AA will enable understanding of errors within AA due to its impact on entitlement to other benefits. Please see the Background Information page for more details.

Disability Living Allowance

Since April 2020, the statistics include a measurement of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for the first time since 2004 to 2005.

State Pension

The National Audit Office (NAO) had a clear requirement for DWP to carry out full measurement of State Pension claimant error and fraud. The May 2022 publication provides the first full measurement of State Pension since 2005 to 2006. Please see the Background Information page for more details.

Changes Delivered since April 2020:

• measurement of Fraud and Error on UC advances
• review of incorrectness reporting (proportion of cases with an error) to extend the use of a de Minimis approach across all benefits; develop a back series of uprating errors and present net reporting of incorrectness
• capping Housing Costs fraud and error on Universal Credit at the amount of housing element the claimant is receiving
• incorporating the use of more data when categorising frauds that are classified as ‘failure to provide evidence’
• the State Pension measurement included claims administered through the Get Your State Pension (GYSP) online service for the first time in FYE 2024

Impact of COVID-19

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the benefit reviews that would normally feed into the 2021 Fraud and Error publication were stopped in mid-March 2020. This was due to a number of key factors:

• face-to-face reviews being unable to be carried out under social distancing restrictions
• claimants being unable to leave the house to post evidence in the early stages of the pandemic
• it being inappropriate to suspend benefits, which is a key tool in supporting compliance with the reviews

Universal Credit (UC) reviews, which are carried out by telephone, restarted in mid-July 2020, alongside official error checks on State Pension (SP). On 13 May 2021 we published our fraud and error in the benefit system financial year ending (FYE) 2021 statistics, which was based on the reviews carried out on UC and SP. As we were unable to review other benefits we carried forward rates from previous years for all the benefits not reviewed this year to enable us to produce an overall (‘global’) estimate of fraud and error. Rolling forward rates is part of our normal methodology but, due to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, we carried out additional analysis to ensure that it was a valid approach to take this year. We published a summary of this analysis in Appendix 3 of our publication, and more detail in our background information and methodology note.

In late 2020 and early 2021 we restarted full reviews on:

• Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• Pension Credit (PC)
• Housing Benefit (HB)

Work and Unemployment

Benefit Sanctions statistics

Benefit Sanctions statistics are published quarterly and show the number of sanctions imposed on people who receive Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, or Universal Credit.

Changes delivered since April 2020:

• Official Statistics extended to include adverse sanction decisions by ethnicity, in August 2024.

National Insurance number allocations to adult overseas nationals entering the UK

The National Insurance allocations statistics are published quarterly and show a count, by individual nationality, of the number of new (flow) National Insurance numbers (NINos) registered to adult non-UK nationals each quarter, irrespective of the length of stay in the UK. The statistics are not a count of the number of adult non-UK nationals currently residing in the UK.

Changes delivered since April 2020:

• in 2020 all developments and recommendations were completed and the Office for Statistics Regulation published a letter to confirm the re-instatement of the Official accredited statistics badge and compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics
• from 2020, new narrative and data quality checks have been included to ensure continued quality in the data and explanation of changes impacted from COVID-19
• new data quality checks were added to understand the impact of EU Exit on quarterly volumes and data received and new narrative added to the publication to inform users of the impact.

The Employment of Disabled People

Summary estimates of the number of disabled people in employment are published regularly by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) as part of their ‘Labour Market Overview, UK’ series. This publication presents more detailed analysis and break downs of those summary estimates.

Changes delivered since April 2020:

• the publication already includes information of the number of disabled people who are economically inactive (not in or available to start work). Three new breakdowns for these figures have now been added to the publication:
  • the main reason for inactivity
  • when someone last worked
  • whether they wanted to work

Universal Credit

The Universal Credit statistics have been developed to provide information about people and households on Universal Credit (UC), and claims and starts to UC.

The main statistical release for claims, starts, people and households on UC is published quarterly. This is supplemented by monthly updates of data for people on UC. All data are available via Stat-Xplore, interactive maps and dashboard, and the quarterly statistical bulletin which is published on GOV.UK in HTML format.

Changes delivered since April 2020:

• the Office for Statistics Regulation undertook a compliance check on the series and work to make improvements in line with the Code of Practice and specific recommendations was complete in 2020:
  • more detail was added to the background and methodology document including: an explanation of how administrative data is converted to Official Statistics, a quality assessment of the statistics and a glossary of technical terms used in the statistics
  • data visualisation was also improved to aid interpretation of the statistics and the commentary was enhanced to provide further context and insight to users about trends in the statistics
  • a Quality Assurance of Administrative Data (QAAD) report and a Background Quality report were developed and published
• in 2017, a consultation was ran to help identify and prioritise the future development of UC statistics as published in our release strategy. In line with the prioritisation and to meet user needs statistics detailing the number of households affected by the removal of the spare-room subsidy, and the average value of their deductions was added to the February 2021 publication
• to meet user demand the February 2021 publication was extended to split UC households by their work capability assessment (WCA) elements
• inclusion of wards on Stat-Xplore for People on UC and Households on Universal Credit from June 2021
• inclusion of the number of children in households claiming UC, and the age of the youngest child in each household from August 2021
• inclusion of households affected by the removal of the spare-room subsidy (RSRS), and the average value of their deduction, from November 2021
• the UC children data has been extended to include the age breakdown of all children in UC households, from August 2022
• inclusion of UC claimants eligible for and receiving the childcare element and the number receiving the maximum amounts
• extended the Official Statistics to include ethnicity statistics

Universal Credit and Child Tax Credit claimants: statistics related to the policy to provide support for a maximum of 2 children

The Universal Credit and Child Tax Credit claimants publication shows the number of claimants (single or joint adult households with any dependent children or young people) affected by the policy to provide support for a maximum of two children and eligible for a positive Universal Credit or Child Tax Credit award on 2 April 2021. They include statistics relating to the exceptions to the policy.

Changes delivered since April 2020:

• included breakdown of figures by parliamentary constituency

Universal Credit Work Capability Assessment statistics

New quarterly Official Statistics in development on the number of people on UC WCA by stage of process and monthly decisions and outcomes were published on 8 June 2023.

The first release of the statistics included:

• Caseload: Number of people on UC WCA by:
  • stage of assessment: pre-WCA or post-WCA with Limited Capability for Work (LCW) or Limited Capability for Work Related Activity (LCWRA)
  • month (from April 2019 to March 2023)
  • age at caseload date
  • sex
  • GB level and standard geographical area
• Number of WCA decisions by:
  • DWP decision (No Limited Capability for Work (NLCW), LCW, LCWRA monthly (from April 2019 to February 2023)
  • GB level and standard geographical area

Changes delivered:

• UC WCA decisions by medical conditions derived from International Statistical Classification of Diseases (ICD10) high level codes
• UC WCA decisions by age and gender, and initial and repeat claims to UC WCA

Economic Labour Market Status of individuals aged 50 and over

The publications show the trends over time in the economic labour market status of individuals aged 50 and over.

The September 2023 annual release of statistics included new information to better present the labour market picture for older workers, including the following new breakdowns:

• working patterns of older workers
• hours worked
• main work location
• work pattern
• current employment duration
• additional characteristics of older people in the labour market:
• highest qualification level
• ethnicity
• the duration of inactivity and unemployment and inactivity by previous industry
• employment by sector and proportion of older workers within each sector
• single year age breakdowns of employment and inactivity rates
• regional breakdowns of inactivity rates and local authority breakdowns of employment, unemployment and inactivity rates