𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

If you’re wondering how this can continue, you would be right to do so. Britain is driving towards the cliff edge. We’re not just failing to turn round, we are accelerating. This is the fiscal cliff edge of Britain’s broken finances.

But it’s also the moral cliff edge of locking many into a life of benefits when with support they can get back to work.

Even worse, the driver of this astonishing increase is those with no work requirements. That means they’re not just out of employment, they’re not even looking for it.

There will always be those who cannot work, because of their own disabilities or illnesses or because they need to act as a carer. But there are now an extraordinary 3.7 million of them on universal credit.

There will be many who will be able to do at least some level of work. We need a system that can identify the genuinely needy from the obviously workshy.

That some are workshy is beyond dispute. We’ve all known the house on our street where the lights don’t come on until midday and the music is playing until the early hours.

Where the black bags of beer cans appear not just on the weekend, but on the weekday as well.

Something needs to change. And it needs to change now.

Joanna Marchong is investigations campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance