Disability: adults unable to work due to illness / disability

Data for this section are drawn from the Office for National Statistics' NOMIS labour market statistics website. The figures report the percentage of adults of working-age (16-64) in receipt of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or Incapacity Benefit (IB). These benefits are for people who cannot work due to long-term health problems or disability. ESA replaced IB for new claimants in 2008. Most existing IB recipients were reassessed for ESA in the 2011-2014 period. ESA entitlement is assessed using Work Capability Assessments. These data are available up to November 2016.

The percentage of adults of working-age in receipt of IB/ESA declined steadily from 10.1% in 2003 to 7.8% from mid-2014 onwards - see Chart 1/(download chart and data(123Kb)). The rate of decline was steepest in the 2003-2011 period; the more recent figures have been more stable

In November 2016, 8.1% of men and 7.5% of women of working-age were in receipt of IB/ESA. Chart 2 (download data and chart(20Kb)) shows that for both sexes, the percentage of the working-age population claiming IB/ESA increases steadily till age 54, although for women over 60 the effects of pension age changes are not yet seen.

Chart 3 (download data and chart(23Kb)) shows the percentage of adults of working-age in each local authority who were in receipt of IB/ESA in November 2016. Estimates ranged from 4.2% for Aberdeenshire men to 12.9% for men in Inverclyde, and from 4.3% for Aberdeenshire women to 10.7% for women in Glasgow. (Please note that the data presented in chart 3 have not been age- or sex-standardised).

The following data are drawn from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Stat-Xplore Benefit Statistics database. In May 2020 there were 215,621 people claiming for ESA only. The majority of ESA claimants (170,465) were in the Support Group category, meaning they have the most severe conditions and are not currently expected to look or prepare for work. The second largest category (32,945) of working–age ESA claimants are in the work-related activity group, who are expected to prepare to look for work and attend regular interviews to discuss their prospects. They are also subject to benefit sanctions. There were also 6,867 in the assessment phase and 5,341 whose status was unknown.

Please note: If you require the most up-to-date data available, please check the data sources directly as new data may have been published since these data pages were last updated. Although we endeavour to ensure that the data pages are kept up-to-date, there may be a time lag between new data being published and the relevant ScotPHO web pages being updated.