Department for Work and Pensions
According to new independent figures released today (30 March 2016), there are now 764,000 fewer workless households in this country compared to 5 years ago a fall of 20%.
The figures also show there are 449,000 fewer children living in workless households.
And the number of households where no one has ever worked is down by 36,000 a fall of 10% since 2010.
Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb said:
Our economic and welfare reforms are helping to turn around the lives of hundreds of thousands of families up and down the country who were previously overlooked.
Reforms this government has put in place such as Universal Credit, the Claimant Commitment and the benefit cap and are paying off, supporting a record 31 million people in work, with the unemployment rate also at a 10-year low.
There are now nearly half a million fewer children living in households where no one works; where they can see one or both their parents benefitting from the dignity of a job and the security that a pay cheque brings.
Employment figures published earlier this month showed that there are 2.37 million more people in work now compared with 2010 an average increase of more than 1,000 people in work every single day.
The number of people claiming unemployment related benefits has also fallen to its lowest level since 1975, and there are now around 770,000 vacancies available in the economy at any one time.
The governments welfare reforms are returning fairness to the benefit system and encouraging people who are able to work to do just that. They include:
- the benefit cap, which ensures that families dont receive more in benefits than the average family earns
- Universal Credit, the biggest change to the welfare system in a generation
- the Claimant Commitment, which spells out what we expect from jobseekers when they search for work
- the New Enterprise Allowance scheme, which helps people on benefits to become their own boss
- the Work Programme, which has so far helped more than 503,000 people escape long-term unemployment
Read the working and workless household figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Contact Press Office
Media enquiries for this press release: 0203 267 5134
Press Office
Caxton House
Tothill Street
London
SW1H 9NA
London Press Office (national media and London area enquiries only not questions about personal claims) 020 3267 5144
Out-of-hours (journalists only) 076 59 108 883
England and Wales (local media enquiries) 029 20 586 then 097 or 098 or 099
Scotland (local media enquiries) 0131 310 1122
Follow DWP on:
- Twitter www.twitter.com/dwppressoffice
- Facebook www.facebook.com/dwp
- LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/company/dwp
- YouTube www.youtube.com/dwp