Benefit Systems and Labour Market Services

This chapter looks at the role of and developments in different parts of the benefit system and the take-up and effectiveness of labour market services. It finds that benefits other than disability benefit – mainly unemployment and social assistance benefits – play a large role, especially for people with common mental disorders. The functioning of these systems is therefore crucial for the overall outcomes, especially the ability of those systems to identify a client’s mental illness and the resulting support needs. For the disability benefit system the findings suggest that the rising share of claims caused by mental disorders is to a large extent the result of i) a work-limiting understanding of mental illness, and ii) the shift among people with co-morbid conditions towards taking the mental health condition as the primary cause for incapacity. On the effectiveness of employment services the chapter concludes that systems fail to ensure a timely delivery of services for people with a mental disorder.