Scottish Observatory for Work & Health
The Scottish Observatory for Work & Health (SOW&H) was established in July 2008. The Observatory has two aims;
1. To observe & understand those receiving benefit for health-related worklessness.
2. To understand the relationships between health and worklessness in a Scottish context.
Programme of Work
Year 1
- Produce real time reports on the stock incapacity benefit (IB), on flow and off flow populations for a variety of geographies. This data will be broken down sex, age, reason on IB (including mental health) and length of time of IB.
- Investigate the destinations of those coming off IB.
- Present the IB figures in the context of number of jobs available and change in employment rate.
Years 2 & 3
- Update work from year 1 (additional geographical detail).
- Monitor substantive changes in the benefit system (e.g. the move towards employment and support allowance).
- Develop research on health consequences of worklessness.
- Develop research evaluating effectiveness of interventions to return people to work.
Research Team
Dr Judith Brown, Dr David Webster, James Arnott, Professor Ivan Turok, Professor Ewan Macdonald, Professor Richard Mitchell.
Funders
The Glasgow Centre for Population Health, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Lanarkshire, Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives and the Scottish Government Health Directorates.
New: Health-related worklessness in Scotland Profile
The Health-related worklessness in Scotland Profile, produced by the Scottish Observatory for Work & Health using DWP data, contains data on total sickness-related benefit claimants, 2000 to 2009 and ESA only claimants for 2009 for Scotland, Glasgow, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, Inverclyde, Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire. The profile also contains 2010 ESA data, not routinely available, by medical condition, age, duration of claim, stage of claim and ethnicity.
Incapacity Benefit Claimant Profiles
The IB claimant profiles, produced by the Scottish Observatory for Work & Health using DWP data, examine the "stock" of IB claimants and the "on" and "off" flow from 2000 to 2008 for 14 geographies.
Worklessness and Health - Symposium
University of Glasgow - 1st September, 2011
Publications & Reports
Brown J, Hanlon P, Webster D, Turok I, Arnott J, Macdonald, E B. Turning the tap off! Incapacity benefit in Glasgow and Scotland - Trends over the five years. 2007. The Glasgow Centre for Population Health.
Turning the Tap Off Full Report, Turning the Tap Off Briefing Paper, Turning the Tap Off Appendices.
Brown J, Hanlon P, Turok I, Webster D, Arnott J, Macdonald EB. Establishing the potential for using routine data on Incapacity Benefit to assess the local impact of policy initiatives. Journal of Public Health 2008;30:54-9.
Brown J, Hanlon P, Turok I, Webster D, Arnott J, Macdonald EB. Mental health as a reason for claiming incapacity benefit – a comparison of national and local trends. Journal of Public Health 2009;31:74-80.
Scottish Observatory for Work and Health Annual Report. June 2009. Year 1 Summary and key findings also available.
Changes in incapacity benefits receipt in UK Cities, 2000-2008. January 2010.
Changes in incapacity benefit receipt in MSP constituencies 2001 & 2008. January 2010.
Webster D, Arnott J, Brown J, Turok I, Mitchell R, Macdonald, EB. Falling Incapacity Benefit claims in a former industrial city: policy impacts or labour market improvement? Policy Studies 2010;31(2):163-185.
Scottish Observatory for Work and Health Annual Report. June 2010. Year 2 Report.
Brown J, Mackay D, Demou E, Craig J, Macdonald E Reducing sickness absence in Scotland - applying the lessons from a pilot NHS intervention July 2013.
Please contact Judith Brown (judith.brown@glasgow.ac.uk) for more details on the SOW&H.