Understanding the health and employment support needs of the Scottish working age population
This project links together anonymised welfare benefits with health data, to better understand the impacts of job quality, worklessness and welfare reform on public health and health inequalities.
Our Research
Analysis of linked administrative data: this project will bring together anonymised information about welfare benefits with health data, to better understand the impacts of job quality, worklessness and welfare reform on public health and health inequalities. This includes investigating the health consequences of different welfare policies in the UK and the implications for health inequalities.
There are three phases to this project:
- In the first phase, the Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS), which has information on all types of benefits administered by the DWP (e.g. job seekers allowance) is being linked to health information (e.g. dates and causes of death, reasons for hospital attendance) for residents of Scotland. The health needs of people claiming different types of benefits over time following the onset of a long-term health condition is being assessed.
- In the second phase, the transitions to and from welfare benefits and health (and vice versa) will be investigated - for example, by studying the effects of experiencing a new health condition on likelihood of needing welfare benefits.
- The third phase evaluates the health impacts of specific recent UK welfare reforms (such as the replacement of incapacity benefit with employment and support allowance), considering them as specific natural experiments.
Data this research aims to link and analyse
- Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS)
- DWP benefits
- Hospitalisations, deaths and prescriptions data
Research Team:
Professor Vittal Katikireddi, Dr Serena Pattaro
This project is part funded by the Health Foundation and Medical Research Council (MRC), with the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) part funding one of the researchers.
