Local Level Incapacity Benefits Rolls in Britain: Correlates and Convergence

McVicar D. Local level Incapacity Benefits rolls in Britain: correlates and convergence, <italic>Regional Studies</italic>. There is considerable variation across British Local Authority Districts in the proportion of the working-age population claiming incapacity benefits, ranging from 2% in Hart to 16% in Merthyr Tydfil and Easington in 2008. These claimant rates are strongly correlated with local unemployment rates and self-reported disability rates. But spatial differences in claimant rates for incapacity benefits were even greater a decade ago. This paper describes the extent of this claimant rate convergence and discusses possible explanations for it.