Economic Affairs Committee to kick off new economic inactivity inquiry with its first evidence session

On Tuesday 29 October 2024, the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee will be holding its first evidence session as part of its short inquiry on the relationship between the welfare system and long-term sickness in Great Britain.

At 3pm the committee will hear from:

• Eduin Latimer, Research Economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies
• Tom Waters, Associate Director and Head of the Income, Work and Welfare Sector at the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

This evidence session, which is open to the public, will be held in Committee Room 4 of the House of Lords. It will also be streamed live on Parliament TV.

Questions the committee is likely to cover in this session include:

• What is the overall impact of long-term sickness on the economy?
• Between 2010 and the present, what has been the overall trend in inactivity and what have been the changes in reasons given for inactivity and long-term sickness?
• What benefits do people who are assessed as long-term sick receive?
• How much would someone who is assessed as long-term sick receive compared with someone who is healthy but unemployed?
• What is the assessment process that someone has to go through if they are to receive these benefits?
• What changes have been made to the benefits system in terms of conditionality over the last decade?
• What are the regional differences in the number of people who receive long-term sick benefits across Great Britain and what is their demographic breakdown?

More about the Economic inactivity: welfare and long-term sickness inquiry

As a follow up to its 2022 inquiry into economic inactivity, the committee is carrying out a short inquiry on the relationship between the welfare system and long-term sickness in Great Britain.

Rates of economic inactivity – measured as a proportion of people of working age – fell steadily from 2012, reaching an all-time low of 20.7 per cent in early 2020. However, the COVID-19 pandemic saw a sudden and dramatic reversal of this trend with rates of long-term sickness becoming an increasingly important factor as the pandemic wore on.

The committee is seeking to understand the impact, if any, that changes in the benefits system have had on trends in long-term sickness and inactivity. It will hear views on what is being done in this area, and what should be done, to mitigate elevated levels of long-term sickness-related inactivity and the associated rising costs of welfare.