Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The aims of this study were to identify the causes of the rise in the number of women in the United Kingdom claiming incapacity benefits over the last thirty years, and to investigate why the proportion of women claiming incapacity benefits varies so much across the country. The dataset deposited at the UKDA contains comprehensive quantitative data from a questionnaire survey of nearly 2,000 female incapacity benefit claimants in eight local areas spread across five regions of England. The eight survey areas covered two former mining areas, the part or whole of two cities, two seaside towns, a northern industrial town and a disadvantaged rural area. The mix reflects the types of areas across Britain with high incapacity benefit claimant rates. Previous studies by the Principal Investigators on similar themes include Economically Inactive and Unemployed Men, 1997-1998 (held at the UK Data Archive under SN 4078) and Economically Inactive and Unemployed in Britain's Seaside Towns, 2002 (SN 4682). All working papers related to the project can be found on the project website: Geography and Gender. Further information about the project is available from the ESRC Award page.

Main Topics:

The data include demographic and household characteristics, labour market histories, qualifications, benefits received, sources of household income, aspirations to work, and health status.

Multi-stage stratified random sample

Face-to-face interview