The number of people claiming Britain’s main benefit without having to work has soared by 1.5 million since Labour took office, with new figures revealing that nearly 4.2 million people on Universal Credit now have “no work requirements” following a surge in mental health claims, reports The Telegraph.
The government is facing increasing pressure over ballooning welfare spending amid a backlash against Chancellor Rachel Reeves‘s tax-raising “Benefits Street” Budget.
Critics have slammed the figures according to the report, claiming they show that Downing Street has lost control after being forced to abandon planned cuts to sickness handouts last year. However, officials insist that a significant portion of the increase is due to claimants moving from other sickness payments onto Universal Credit.
According to official data, in December, there were 4.2 million people on Universal Credit with no requirement to work, up from the 2.7 million inherited by Labour in July 2024. These individuals make up half of the 8.4 million who are on the benefit overall, marking the largest increase in claimants since the start of the Covid pandemic.
Conservatives and Reform UK propose welfare reform plans
Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately said, “This is a sure sign of Labour’s failure to get a grip on benefits. Labour came into Government with no plans to reform welfare, so it’s no surprise they’ve made no progress.”
Whately outlined the Conservatives‘ plan to fix welfare, which includes stopping sickness benefits for low-level mental health problems, reinstating face-to-face assessments, and ending benefits payments to non-British citizens. She also pledged to support businesses in creating jobs by cutting business taxes and red tape.
Reform UK MP Lee Anderson echoed Whately’s sentiments, stating, “This is further evidence that Labour favours the shirkers in this country, not the workers. The welfare system is abused by people who don’t need it and people who aren’t even citizens of this country. Only Reform has a clear plan to overhaul our benefits system, cut the ballooning £342bn welfare bill and get people back into work.”
Officials began moving claimants of Employment Support Allowance (ESA), a legacy sickness benefit, onto Universal Credit in July 2024. Since then, approximately 750,000 people have been transferred, partially explaining the significant rise in Universal Credit claims. Most ESA claimants have severe conditions that render them unable to work.
Pressure mounts on Labour to curb welfare spending
The figures are likely to add to the pressure on Labour to curb spiralling spending on working age benefits, which is projected to reach £177 billion per year by the early 2030s. Documents released alongside the autumn budget increased the forecast by £36.4 billion over the next five years compared to projections from last spring.
This comes after Labour abandoned plans to cut £5.5 billion from the Personal Independence Payments (PIP) bill following a rebellion from backbench MPs.
Downing Street has tasked Alan Milburn, a former Labour health secretary, with leading a review into addressing worklessness among young people.
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said, “This increase comes as people are moving off legacy benefits – a transition we inherited from the previous government, alongside a system with the wrong incentives that writes people off. This government is determined to fix this. That’s why we’re removing the financial incentives in Universal Credit that encourage inactivity, and as part of our wider plans to Get Britain Working, we have redeployed 1,000 work coaches to help thousands of sick and disabled people who were previously left without contact for years.”
