New Perspectives on Health, Disability, Welfare and the Labour Market

More than two million people of working age in the UK are out of work and claiming incapacity or disability benefits. Reducing the level of benefit claiming among those with health limitations has been a priority for successive governments, but this book argues that current policy fails to reflect the evidence that people on long–term disability benefits face a complex combination of barriers to work and social inclusion. There is a need for continuing inter–disciplinary research on the nature of the disability benefits problem and the efficacy of current policy solutions and public services. This book brings together researchers from the fields of social policy, economics, sociology and clinical psychology. It offers new evidence on the inter–related problems faced by disability claimants, and identifies important lessons for policy.

List of Contributors

Introduction: New Perspectives on Health, Disability, Welfare and the Labour Market
Colin Lindsay, Bent Greve, Ignazio Cabras, Nick Ellison and Steve Kellett

1 Assessing the Evidence Base on Health, Employability and the Labour Market Lessons for Activation in the UK
Colin Lindsay, Bent Greve, Ignazio Cabras, Nick Ellison and Steve Kellett

2 Disability Benefits in an Age of Austerity
Christina Beatty and Steve Fothergill

3 From Impairment to Incapacity Educational Inequalities in Disabled People′s Ability to Work
Ben Baumberg

4 Keeping meself to meself How Social Networks Can Influence Narratives of Stigma and Identity for Long–term Sickness Benefits Recipients
Kayleigh Garthwaite

5 Measuring the Impacts of Health Conditions on Work Incapacity Evidence from the British Household Panel Survey
William Whittaker and Matt Sutton

6 The Influence of Presenting Health Condition on Eventual Return to Work for Individuals Receiving Health–Related Welfare Benefits
Fiona Purdie and Stephen Kellett

7 A Review of Health–related Support Provision within the UK Work Programme What′s on the Menu?
Jenny Ceolta–Smith, Sarah Salway and Angela Mary Tod

8 Supporting the UK′s Workless An International Comparative Perspective
Mike Danson, Ailsa McKay and Willie Sullivan

Index

Colin Lindsay is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Strathclyde Business School, UK.

Bent Greve is a Professor in the Department of Society and Globalisation at Roskilde University, Denmark.

Ignazio Cabras is a Reader in Economics, Business and Management at Newcastle Business School, UK.

Nick Ellison is Professor and Head of Social Policy and Social Work at the University of York, UK.

Steve Kellett is a Clinical Psychologist at the University of Sheffield, UK.