Britain’s worklessness crisis is getting worse. This morning the ONS released figures showing that 1.3 million are on unemployment. But that figure masks a welfare crisis that politicians are doing little to address. Unemployment only covers those actually looking for a job – the real problem is how few are. The true benefits figure goes unpublished and is buried in a password protected DWP database. Every three months the database is updated and we track the results on The Spectator data hub. It was updated this morning and shows the number claiming out-of-work benefits has hit some 5.6 million people.
The increase is being driven by those in the Universal Credit (workless) category who are not required to find work. Many will be classified as too sick to work. Revised estimates put the number out of the labour force due to long-term-sickness at a record high of 2.8 million people. Sir Iain Duncan Smith, appearing on last week’s episode of Spectator TV, said mental health was driving the rise in sick notes. Some 4,000 people are being signed off every single day.
The out of work crisis is particularly acute in some of Britain’s towns and cities: 22 per cent of people in Inverclyde and Middlesbrough, 24 per cent of people in Hartlepool and over a quarter of people in Blackpool are not working. Leaving people to languish on benefits is certainly not levelling up.
Things are only set worsen. The DWP releases another set of data that doesn’t feature in its press releases and generally receives little attention – the benefit system forecasts. These estimates – last produced at the Autumn Statement – show the disability benefits caseload rising by 920 people every single day. Spending on disability benefits is predicted to surge too.
Given that one in four Brits are living on out-of-work benefits it’s perhaps not surprising that Britain’s economy has become so reliant on immigration – something the government talks tough on while granting more visas than any Labour government in history. Figures released this morning by the ONS show how large that part of our workforce has become. Some four and a half million workers now come from outside the EU – up one million since the first lockdown. Over one in five jobs are filled by foreign-born workers.
Having millions out of work is not just a huge waste of money but a waste of human potential. Thousands are written off every day. A decade ago, the Tories might have hoped to claim welfare reform as a serious part of their legacy. But with every day that passes it looks like they’ll be leaving a bigger mess than they inherited. If a Labour Secretary of State walks into the DWP after the election this year ‘there are no workers left’ is the only note they’ll find.
Comments