New figures reveal that four million people are claiming benefits without being required to look for work, a rise of 1.3 million since Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister. This means half of the record eight million claimants of Britain’s main unemployment benefit are now exempt from job-seeking activities.
The data, released as unemployment hit a four-year high of 5%, has drawn sharp criticism from Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch. She accused the Prime Minister of being too “weak” to address the welfare crisis and called for cuts to the benefits bill to reduce government spending.
Government figures show the number of Universal Credit claimants with no work-search requirement rose to 4.03 million in October, up from 3.9 million in September and 50% above the 2.7 million level in July 2024 when Labour came to power. The Government attributes much of the increase to people being moved from legacy benefits onto Universal Credit.
The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, faces mounting pressure as the cost of incapacity and disability benefits is projected to hit £100 billion a year by the end of the decade. The number of foreign nationals claiming Universal Credit has also reached a record 1.24 million, with EU citizens accounting for the largest share.
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said the rise in Universal Credit claimants reflects the phasing out of legacy benefits and reiterated the Government’s commitment to employment reforms, including a Youth Guarantee for younger claimants. Meanwhile, the jobs market shows signs of weakening, with payrolls falling by 32,000 in October and redundancies rising, partly attributed to the Chancellor’s National Insurance hike.
