The proportion of the working-age population in receipt of incapacity benefits reached a post-financial crisis high of 7.0 per cent in 2023-24 and is forecast to continue rising. This Welfare trends report focuses on the operation of the incapacity benefits system since 2010. Only a minority of the rise in incapacity benefits onflows over the past 15 years reflects a higher number of people initiating claims. What happens after that as claimants move through the system has had larger effects: a decline in the number who drop out of the process and a rise in the final approval rate.
