SINGAPORE: One in eight parents now says their child has a disability as new data suggests behavioural issues are driving up Britain’s benefits bill.
About 12pc of children – or around 1.7 million youngsters – are now living with a long-term illness, disability or impairment, according to fresh figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
This has almost doubled since 2015, when roughly 7pc of parents said their child had a disability, according to the department’s closely-watched Family Resources Survey (FRS).
It also comes amid a sharp increase in young people being diagnosed with behavioural issues as well as autism and ADHD.
Almost two-thirds of children with a disability had a “social” or “behavioural” impairment – by far the most common issue cited by parents, the FRS found.
The Government does not have a single definition of “behavioural disorders”, making it hard to pin down what conditions the children have.
However, experts say oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), which is characterised by stubborn behaviour, outbursts of anger and ignoring instructions from adults, is one example.
Another example is conduct disorder, a more aggressive form that is often diagnosed in teenagers.
The Government does not have a single definition of “behavioural disorders”, making it hard to pin down what conditions the children have.
However, experts say oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), which is characterised by stubborn behaviour, outbursts of anger and ignoring instructions from adults, is one example.
Another example is conduct disorder, a more aggressive form that is often diagnosed in teenagers.
The annual poll, which is one of the most comprehensive surveys of British life and living standards, also showed that roughly 2.8 million adults and children now live with social or behavioural issues that cause “substantial difficulty with day-to-day activities”.
This is up 40pc from one million people a decade ago and illustrates how mental health issues have dominated an increase in welfare payments over the past 10 years.
The FRS data showed that 5.5 million people who said they were disabled claimed they had mental health issues, while 7.7 million said they had mobility issues.
Overall spending on child health and disability benefits is expected to rise from £5.3bn this year to £8.3bn by the start of the next decade, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
While Sir Stephen Timms, the disability minister, is conducting a review of the system, he is not expected to review benefits for children.
A separate review by Alan Milburn, the former health minister, will examine the broader challenges facing young people starting at school as well as the barriers to finding work.
Taxpayers spent £1.2bn in the last financial year funding disability benefits to help mostly parents with children living with behavioural disorders, separate DWP figures show.
While spending on disability benefits for children with learning difficulties is higher at £2.37bn, this spending has been much slower than the spending boom on children with behavioural issues.
The number of children with behavioural disorders who are eligible for disability living allowance (DLA) has almost quadrupled to 276,000 since before the pandemic. This total includes 10,000 children under five and 14 children who are less than a year old.
Roughly 16.7 million people – representing a quarter of Britons – now live with a disability. More women than men claim they have an impairment, though disability is more prevalent among boys than girls.
Scottish people are also more likely to say they are disabled than people living in England or Wales.
The figures show roughly 700,000 of children considered disabled are under 10. More people under 20 are also now in this category than Britons aged over 80.
A DWP spokesman said: “12 percent of children in our survey were described by their parents as having one or more disabilities – this does not correlate with DLA payments.
“However, we are clear that there is a rising demand for Child DLA, which is why an independent review was launched in December to examine how the health system currently delivers mental health, ADHD and autism services in order to help ensure children and adults can get the right support.