Department spins DLA figures
Department spins DLA figures
Closer examination of the figures revealed number of new claimants has dropped.
17/08/2011
The Department for Work and Pensions press released statistics on Disability Living Allowance (DLA) claimants saying that the number of people receiving DLA had grown by 29 per cent in the last year. A closer examination of the figures revealed a very different picture, however. The number of new claimants has, in fact, been dropping: in 2010/11 there was an increase in claimants on the previous year of 76,550 compared to 120,000 in 2202/03.
Furthermore, six per cent of the government’s 29 per cent figure can be attributed to disabled people getting older and claiming longer. A further seven per cent can be put down to demographic change: the population is increasing as a result there are more disabled people. This cuts the figure to 16 per cent. Finally, if children are excluded from the figures, the increase is reduced further to just 12 per cent – far lower than the 30 per cent increase used by the government.
These statistics were completed in May 2011, but not released to the public until 9 August, when they were issued in an ‘ad hoc’ release to media. The chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, Anne Begg MP, wrote to Employment Minister Chris Grayling on 27 January calling on him to ensure greater care was taken in messages given to media.
Government has used the assertion that DLA claims are growing by about 29 per cent to motivate proposals in the Welfare Reform Bill to tighten eligibility. However, these figures were only released after the Bill had finished its progress through the House of Commons prior to the summer break. Had the report been published in May and the statistics properly scrutinised at that time, it could have let to greater opposition to government’s proposals.
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From the link below, you can also download the Growth Table published by the government, in excel format.
