Universal Credit: Mental Illness
(asked on 19th October 2026) - View Source
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Universal Credit claimants with limited capability for work and work-related activity had each of the 10 most frequently recorded conditions within the Mental and Behavioural Disorders group recorded at their Work Capability Assessment, as at March in each of the last five years.
Answered by
Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government) (Equalities)
The table below provides the volume of Universal Credit claimants with limited capability for work and work-related activity, as at March each year, who reported any of the 10 most frequently recorded conditions within the ICD10 group ‘Mental and Behavioural Disorders (F00 - F99)’. These conditions represent options that can be selected by the Assessor during the assessment.
Condition | March 2022 | March 2023 | March 2024 | March 2025 | March 2026 |
Mental Health Problem | 184,900 | 305,500 | 453,500 | 613,700 | 733,400 |
Anxiety and Depression | 130,700 | 191,600 | 251,200 | 310,000 | 359,100 |
Anxiety | 9,200 | 14,800 | 20,300 | 26,200 | 31,900 |
Depression | 21,100 | 28,800 | 34,700 | 38,700 | 41,500 |
Alcohol Misuse | 11,200 | 15,100 | 19,100 | 22,700 | 26,100 |
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder | 2,600 | 4,700 | 7,700 | 12,200 | 19,300 |
Autism | 3,000 | 5,400 | 8,600 | 12,900 | 19,000 |
Learning Difficulties | 5,400 | 8,300 | 11,100 | 14,400 | 17,400 |
Drug Misuse | 7,200 | 9,600 | 11,700 | 13,800 | 16,200 |
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder | 2,600 | 4,000 | 5,800 | 8,800 | 13,700 |
Notes:
- The data covers a four-year period in which the transition from earlier benefits, particularly income-related Employment and Support Allowance, to Universal Credit was taking place. This included the migration of existing claimants between 2024 and 2026 under the Move to UC programme. Therefore the year-to-year changes in caseloads are much larger than would be the case if the incapacity benefits system was viewed as a whole.
- Medical condition is based on evidence recorded at the WCA. An LCWRA recommendation at WCA is established when a claimant meets any one of the relevant qualifying descriptors, which are applied on a “met / not met” basis. This means the assessment can be concluded before all health conditions are discussed and recorded.
- Cases in which, due to evidence provided, a decision can be made without an interview-based or paper-based WCA have no medical condition information available on the analytical system data. These filework cases can relate to claimants who are severely or terminally ill, or have other complex conditions and thus may not be representative of the cohort of known medical conditions.
- Claimants often have complex health issues and can thus be recorded with multiple conditions. Primary conditions are not identified. Claimants will be reported under all applicable conditions so may be reported in the table more than once.
- The figures have been rounded to the nearest 100 and the data supplied is based on bespoke analysis of departmental datasets and has not been certified as National Statistics or Official Statistics.