Universal Credit claimants exempt from seeking employment or training have surged by 1.5 million since Labour entered Government, according to newly released data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
December figures reveal approximately 4.2 million people now receive the benefit without any requirement to seek employment, compared with 2.7 million when the party assumed power in July 2024.
This group now represents half of all 8.4 million Universal Credit recipients, marking the steepest rise in claimant numbers since the coronavirus pandemic began. A significant increase in mental health-related claims has fuelled the expansion, placing mounting pressure on ministers over escalating welfare expenditure.
The statistics emerge amid continued criticism of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s Budget, which opponents have dubbed the “Benefits Street” Budget due to its tax increases.
Universal Credit claims are surging with 1.5 million more on ‘no need to work’ benefits
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Separate data shows 1.5 million individuals now claim Personal Independence Payments for psychiatric conditions including anxiety and depression, a rise of 100,000 within twelve months.
ADHD claims have seen the sharpest growth among mental health disorders, jumping by a fifth over the past year to exceed 91,000 cases. Young people experiencing psychological difficulties account for a substantial portion of this upward trend.
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) provides financial support to those with long-term health conditions or disabilities who struggle with either daily activities or mobility.
Unlike Universal Credit, the payment is not dependent on income levels, and recipients may continue working while claiming. Former Labour health secretary Alan Milburn has been commissioned by Downing Street to examine youth worklessness as part of efforts to address the growing problem.
Britons with ADHD are claiming out of work benefit support
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Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately described the figures as “a sure sign of Labour’s failure to get a grip on benefits”. Speaking to The Times, she said: “Labour came into Government with no plans to reform welfare, so it’s no surprise they’ve made no progress.”
The Conservative frontbencher outlined her party’s proposals, including ending sickness payments for minor mental health issues, reinstating in-person assessments, and restricting benefits to British citizens.
“Rather than Labour’s doom loop of high taxes, lower growth and ever higher government spending, Conservatives under Kemi Badenoch are committed to living within our means, backing businesses and getting Britain working,” Ms Whately added.
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson offered harsher criticism, stating: “This is further evidence that Labour favours the shirkers in this country, not the workers.”
Anderson accused the welfare system of being exploited by those who do not genuinely require support and by non-citizens, claiming Reform UK alone has a credible strategy to reduce the £342billion welfare bill.
Government officials attribute much of the increase to the transfer of Employment Support Allowance recipients onto Universal Credit, a process that began in July 2024 and has moved approximately 750,000 people across. Most ESA claimants have severe conditions preventing them from working.
A DWP spokesman said the government inherited both the legacy benefit transition and “a system with the wrong incentives that writes people off”. The department has deployed 1,000 additional work coaches to assist sick and disabled claimants previously left without contact for years.
Working-age benefit spending is projected to reach £177billion annually by the early 2030s, with autumn budget forecasts rising £36.4bbillion over five years.
Universal Credit is the primary benefit payment for DWP claimants | GETTY
Last year, Centre for Social Justice chairman and former Conservative Welfare Secretary Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP warned benefit expenditure in Britain is reaching a crisis point.
He shared: “It has become quite clear that welfare is now in crisis. Before the pandemic, my welfare reforms brought workless households down to a record low and meant hundreds of thousands more children grew up seeing a parent go out to work each day, transforming life chances forever.
“But soaring sickness benefits and the relaxation of benefit rules during lockdown, never to be turned back on, are costing the taxpayer billions and worse still, wasting the potential of millions of people.
“It is also becoming sadly clear that this government would rather increase taxes on hard working people than get control of this spiralling budget. It must urgently correct its course.”
