Record five million Brits on out-of-work benefits as PM orders ministers to get figures down

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File photo dated 17/02/16 of a Job Centre Plus. Vacancies across the UK have fallen for the eighth month in a row as firms hold back on hiring amid woes in the wider economy, official figures have shown. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed a 51,000 drop in the number of job vacancies to 1.12 million in the three months to February, while the redundancy rate edged higher. Issue date: Tuesday March 14, 2023. PA Photo. See PA story ECONOMY Unemployment. Photo credit should read: Philip Toscano/PA Wire

A RECORD five million Brits on out-of-work benefits is a major drag on growth, the Cabinet was warned yesterday.

More than 5.2 million Brits are currently on incapacity benefits, jobseekers allowance or receiving workless Universal Credit payments.

A record five million Brits are on out-of-work benefits

That’s the equivalent of the population of all of Scotland – despite there being more than a million of job vacancies.

The PM ordered all his ministers to take part in a “cross-government effort” to reduce the number.

At Cabinet on Tuesday, Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride warned hiking labour market participation was “of the utmost importance for reducing inflation and growing the economy.”

He also urged colleagues to do more to get people back to work to ease mental health pressures on the NHS.

Mr Stride insisted the Government’s changes to the lifetime pension allowance and boosting of jobcentres and childcare could only go so far.

And he said ministers must “continue to look at more ways to remove barriers to work.”

Last night a senior government source said: “We are doing a lot to fix this but the Treasury and DWP know there is more to do and we await their plans.”

Did you miss our previous article…
https://hellofaread.com/politics/ministers-want-to-cut-eu-red-tape-saving-businesses-around-1bn-in-huge-post-brexit-reform/