The LSC East Midlands Regional Research Team commissioned the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University to identify the key characteristics of incapacity benefit claimants, and in particular to assess their training needs and aspirations.
 
The report points out that across the East Midlands and the country as a whole, incapacity benefit (IB) claimants are far from evenly distributed. In some southern parts of the region the IB claimant rate is already very low and seems unlikely to fall much lower. In contrast, in some northern parts of the region, including the former coalfield but also the Lincolnshire coast, IB claimant rates are much higher, sometimes accounting for 10 per cent of all adults of working age. This pattern has it roots in long-standing differences in the strength of local labour markets. There has been modest convergence through time, but big differences between places persist –even as the ex-miners, for example, drop out of the IB figures into retirement.

Click here to access the full report.