Health

(asked on 8th May 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Office for National Statistics' personal and economic well-being in the UK data series, what estimate she has made of the proportion of (a) people that are long-term sick and (b) disabled people that suffer from low personal wellbeing.


Answered by
Justin Tomlinson Portrait
Justin Tomlinson
This question was answered on 13th May 2019

The proportions of individuals aged 16-64 in the UK who reported low personal wellbeing, in January-December 2018, by long-term health and disability status, are given in the table below.

Long-term health condition

Disabled

All aged 16-64

Life satisfaction

9.7%

13.8%

4.5%

Feel activities worthwhile

7.8%

11.4%

3.7%

Happiness

14.4%

19.2%

8.4%

Anxiety

29.5%

35.7%

20.3%

Notes:

  1. Estimates are based on the same data source (Annual Population Survey), time period (January-December 2018) and geographical coverage (UK) as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) publication referenced in the question: Personal and economic well-being in the UK: April 2019 (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing/bulletins/personalandeconomicwellbeingintheuk/april2019#while-average-anxiety-levels-reached-a-three-year-low-in-2018-about-103-million-people-continued-to-report-high-anxiety-scores).
  2. While overall wellbeing estimates published by the ONS cover all adults aged 16 years and over, the breakdowns presented here are limited to those aged 16-64, because most people aged 65 and over are not asked the disability and health questions in this Survey.
  3. Following ONS methodology, personal wellbeing is defined not as a single measure, but the four separate measures of life satisfaction, feeling that the things done in life are worthwhile, happiness and anxiety. These scores are self-reported by survey respondents on an 11-point scale, from 0 to 10. “Low” personal wellbeing is defined as those who report a score of 0-4 on life satisfaction, feeling that the things done in life are worthwhile, or happiness, or a score of 6-10 on anxiety.
  4. Personal well-being scores are reported by respondents at the time of interview, including how happy or anxious they were “yesterday”, so the respondents identified in this analysis do not necessarily “suffer from” low personal well-being over an extended period.
  5. Differences in proportions do not necessarily imply a direct causal relationship.
  6. People with long-term health conditions are defined as those who report any physical or mental health conditions or illnesses lasting or expecting to last 12 months or more.
  7. Disabled people are defined as those who report a long-term health condition that reduces their ability to carry out day-to-day activities. This is the Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonised Principle, in line with the Equality Act 2010.
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