Why do 100,000 people in the UK quit their jobs because of ADHD? | health news

More young people than ever are claiming disability benefits after being diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to official figures in the UK, amid growing calls for a complete overhaul of the benefits system.

At least 40% of people receiving disability benefits, also known as Personal Independence Payment (PIP), have a mental disability, according to government statistics from July 2024 to April 2026.

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Moreover, the number of people claiming ADHD disability benefits without a work requirement increased from 71,528 in July 2024 to 100,207 in April this year. Official government figures reported by The Times newspaper this week show the increase was mainly due to an increase in the number of claims made by young people aged 16 to 24.

Opposition Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch referred to the Times report on Tuesday, saying her party would stop people with mild mental health conditions receiving disability benefits, suggesting the report supported her claims.

But Mindy Ptolomey, a lecturer in disability studies at the University of Leeds, said it was “disingenuous” to focus on young people diagnosed with ADHD and receiving disability benefits.

“I think it’s also important to note that most of the benefits that people receive, the social security payments, go directly into the economy, so they buy goods and services and pay for utilities,” Ptolomei told Al Jazeera.

“So this is money that continues to circulate in the economy, rather than being taken out and put somewhere else, it’s actually circulating in our society,” she added.

Here’s what we know:

Why do 100,000 people in the UK quit their jobs due to ADHD?

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) published a report on 16 June showing that the number of PIP claims in April had reached 4 million, up 2% on 31 January.

The report said, “Of these, 3.3 million (83%) were in the working age group and 680,000 (17%) were in the national pension age group, and 37% received the highest level of awards, which is the same level as January 2026.”

The Times reported that of those claiming PIP for ADHD, “around four in 10 are receiving the highest level of daily living allowance and mobility allowance worth up to £194”. [$259] “A week”.

He added, “According to official statistics, over the past two years, the government has approved an average of 40 cases of personal independence allowance (PIP) per day, with ADHD as the main disease.”

According to the government, people can be dismissed from their jobs and receive benefits if they have a “long-term physical or mental health condition or disability” or have “difficulty performing certain daily tasks or getting around because of their condition.”

Not everyone on PIP is logged off or unable to work. This is determined by evaluation within the process. There are no official figures on how many people on PIP have been made redundant from their jobs, but government figures updated last week show 2.8 million people are “economically inactive due to a health condition”, including mental health and disability.

What is ADHD and how easy is it to get a diagnosis in the UK?

According to the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), ADHD is characterized by inability to pay attention to things, high energy levels, and an impulsive personality.

Symptoms of this disorder usually begin before the age of 12 and are thought to be less recognized in women than in men because the symptoms present differently.

But getting a formal diagnosis of ADHD in the UK can be a lengthy process, campaigners say.

People with disabilities should see their GP to decide whether to refer them to a specialist for a formal assessment. This may take months or years.

ADHD treatments range from behavioral therapy to medication.

NHS figures from May showed that around 2.4 million people in the UK have ADHD, including those who are undiagnosed. Of these, approximately 741,000 are aged 5 to 24, it added.

Figures also show that 32,375 new referrals for possible ADHD assessment were received in March, a 29.5% increase on March 2025.

Although the figures seem high, Ptolomey said the UK may actually be facing an “underdiagnosis crisis”.

“It is currently virtually impossible for some young people in the UK to get a diagnosis of ADHD on the NHS. Waiting lists in some areas are completely closed. In some areas it takes 10 years to get a diagnosis,” she said.

Still, receiving benefits isn’t a given, she said.

“It’s also very important to say that PIP is not assessed based on diagnosis or anything like that. You’re not automatically awarded compensation. PIP has an assessment process that has nothing to do with being able to get benefits right away if you have a diagnosis. So a lot of things are being conflated here that are actually completely separate issues,” Ptolomey explained.

What are disability benefits?

Disability benefits are financial payments made to people who are disabled or have long-term health conditions that affect their daily lives, including their ability to work.

The most common disability benefits include PIP, universal credit, disability living allowance and employment and support allowance.

You do not need to be in work to receive some, such as some PIP and universal credit claims, where you are assessed as having limited capacity for work and work-related activities.

According to government statistics from March, 45% of young people aged 16 to 24 who were classified as not in education, employment or training (NEET) by 2024 to 2025 will instead be classified as disabled. This is “an increase of 24 percentage points since 2013/14,” the government report said.

“By 2024/25, disabled young people were more than three times as likely to be a NEET (29.6%) compared to non-disabled young people (8.7%),” he added.

How much do disability benefits cost public money?

According to official figures, from 2025 to 2026, the government is expected to spend 77.1 billion pounds ($102.8 billion) on benefits to support disabled people and people with health problems, and 37.3 billion pounds ($49.7 billion) on housing benefits.

To date, there are no official figures on how much it costs to specifically provide ADHD-related benefits.

Disabled Persons Minister Stephen Timms is expected to announce the results of a landmark review of the disability care system this week.

This review, which was conducted in consultation with people with disabilities, advocacy groups, and charities, will be released in two parts, with the second half scheduled to be published in the fall.

The system for assessing disabled people’s benefits is expected to be found to be inhumane and hindering people from finding jobs, the Guardian newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The review is expected to conclude that score-based assessment systems that take into account the severity of a condition in terms of mobility and daily living are “virtually useless due to the increasing number of new conditions, particularly those involving mental health, whose severity can fluctuate significantly.”

Has the government tried to reform the disability benefits system before?

Welfare benefit reform is a long-running battle the UK government has been engaged in to increase spending on other programs.

Under the previous Conservative government, claiming benefits became much more difficult as claimants had to undergo face-to-face assessments more frequently. The policy was later adopted by the now ruling Labor Party, which said it aimed to increase face-to-face assessments from 12% to 30%.

Research commissioned by the DWP in 2024 found that 17% of those surveyed who had claimed PIP said in-person assessments had made them “less likely to apply”.

That same year, national disability charity Sense found that while face-to-face assessments were not necessarily bad practice, the system as a whole was taking a huge toll on the health and wellbeing of disabled people.

Since coming to power in 2024, Labor Prime Minister Keir Starmer has tried but failed to push through plans to cut PIP spending further by limiting entitlements. The plan could save 4.8 billion pounds ($6.4 billion), but Starmer was forced to withdraw the welfare reform bill after 49 Labor lawmakers voted against it on second reading in the House of Commons.

Lawmakers argued the bill could push more people in the country into relative poverty.

Andy Burnham, a Labor lawmaker and frontrunner to succeed Starmer after he announced his resignation on June 22, told The Times last month he was “not cowardly” about overhauling the system.

He warned of “crude” cuts to the system but insisted he wanted to get more young people into work.

Prime Minister Ptolomey said it was clear the current welfare system needed to be reformed, but this had to be done with the needs of disabled people at the forefront.

“This isn’t about people wanting Social Security for all the bogus reasons that have been proposed. [such as] lazy “Disabled people, disabled young people and young people with ADHD really want to contribute and participate in their communities, and PIP should be one of the many mechanisms in our society to help people do that,” she said.

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