This More or Less episode investigates the sharp rise in UK working-age health benefit claims since 2019. The episode interviews Tom Waters from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, exploring potential causes like the cost of living crisis and the Motability scheme, ultimately concluding that the reasons remain unclear due to unreliable health data. A significant increase in mental health problems is noted, but the data's limitations hinder a definitive explanation. The episode also debunks a claim that the UK imprisons more people for online speech than Russia, revealing the claim's flawed methodology and highlighting differences in legal systems and data reliability between the two countries. Finally, it discusses the crisis in the UK's Office for National Statistics' Labour Force Survey, impacting the reliability of key economic data.
