This article summarises the recent evaluation of Pathways to Work – a package of reforms aimed at encouraging employment among people claiming incapacity benefits (Belway et al., 2007). The results show an increase of over 7 percentage points in the probability of working about a year and a half after the start of claim. The probability of not claiming incapacity benefits was also increased initially but this effect later reduced to just 1½ percentage points. The findings suggest Pathways to Work may contribute to the Government's aim of increasing the employment rate. They provide less encouragement with regard to the aim of reducing by 1 million the number claiming incapacity benefits.
