Disability Benefits, Welfare Reform and Employment Policy

This book aims to tackle the issues that are central to understanding and addressing one of the most important employment policy problems facing governments in the UK and beyond: the high number of people of working age claiming 'disability' or 'incapacity' benefits. Gathering evidence from leading UK scholars, alongside comparative contributions on Sweden, Germany, New Zealand and the Netherlands, the book considers a number of questions including, how do health problems and other barriers work to combine to limit opportunities for labour market participation among claimants of IBs?; How do different local and regional economic conditions shape these individuals' opportunities and experiences of labour market exclusion?; What processes lead to transitions onto IBs and what could be done to retain people with health problems in employment?; How appropriate are the rationale, content and governance of active labour market policies that seek to promote transitions from IBs into work?; and what works in helping people claiming IBs to cope with health problems and/or make progress towards work?