Labour’s claims to be tackling Britain’s soaring benefit bill lay in tatters today as new figures showed 63,000 more people started receiving Universal Credit in just a month.
The Department of Work and Pensions today revealed 8.40million people were receiving the welfare payment in March, up from 8.34million in February.
Despite Sir Keir Starmer‘s vow to get a grip on people being paid to do nothing, some 25,087 people, more than a third of the total 63,197 increase, were placed on benefits with no work requirement.
This means that most have been deemed too unwell to even look for work, although it can also mean they are involved in childcare.
The new figures relate to a period before the government removed the two-child benefit cap, meaning that the figures could increase yet further in coming months.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in November’s Budget that the cap, restricting child tax credit and UC to the first two children in most households, would be lifted this month after prolonged pressure from Labour backbenchers.
The Department of Work and Pensions today revealed 8.40million people were receiving the welfare payment in February, up from 8.34million in January.
At the weekend the Mail on Sunday revealed taxpayers are shelling out £800 in disability benefits every minute to people claiming to suffer from anxiety.
The cost of Personal Independence Payments (PIP) for the disorder has rocketed from under £100million in 2019 to nearly £427million last year – under rules that allow anyone, regardless of their income, to collect the payments without ever seeing a doctor.
