𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

More than six million workers would be better off on benefits, according to a new analysis which warns of a surge in claims. The research has triggered warnings Britain is in danger of becoming a “welfare state with a bankrupt country attached”. Britons on modest wages would receive more from welfare than their post-tax salary if they could persuade doctors to sign them off and claimed a combination of out-of-work and health benefits, according to the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ).

The respected think tank claims one in four full-time workers would be better off “swapping wages for benefits”. It expects 1,000 disability claims to be made every working day in the 10 years since the pandemic, with mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression rocketing.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader and Work and Pensions Secretary who founded the CSJ, said: “My reforms changed the welfare system to make work pay and brought workless households to an all-time low. But because of the post-Covid collapse in vetting and rise of health-related welfare claims, millions of workers could take home more from welfare than wages after tax. This is an outrageous state of affairs. The system must stop writing off thousands every day and incentives to work need to be restored to end this ruinous waste of human potential. Welfare reform is ultimately about transforming lives. The danger now is that Britain turns into a welfare state with a bankrupt country attached.”

The think tank is launching Welfare 2030, an investigation into how to tackle the “benefits crisis” by restoring incentives to work. The CSJ claims that in 2025-26 an “economically inactive claimant on universal credit for ill-health with the average housing benefit and personal independence payment (PIP) would receive an income of around £25,200 – the equivalent to a pre-tax salary of £30,100”.

It estimates there are now 6.2 million full-time workers in roles where a combination of benefits would exceed their take-home pay after tax. Recent jobs with base salaries lower after tax than the combined benefit package include a prison officer in Leicester on £28,187; a store cleaner in Birmingham paid £26,312; and a nursing assistant in Manchester on £24,465.

It claims the benefit package is worth £4,800 more than the £20,400 after tax earned by someone on the National Living Wage working 37 hours a week.

The CSJ acknowledges that “around two million” universal credit recipients are in work but says the “comparison demonstrates the incentive to swap a difficult, modestly paid and highly taxed job for a higher benefit income with no requirement to work at all”. It states that “fewer than one in six PIP claimants are in employment”.

The think tank reports the “total number of people claiming out of work benefits with no requirement to work now exceeds four million”. It warns of “entrenching a permanent sickness-based welfare state, with profound consequences for individual wellbeing, the public finances and the economy”.

Former Labour Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “The number of people being abandoned to health-related benefits shows why welfare reform cannot be left on the ‘too difficult pile’.”

He said the CSJ’s Welfare 2030 project will “develop a blueprint for a system that values contribution, protects the most vulnerable, and helps thousands more people gain all of the advantages that come with a job.”

Joe Shalam, the think tank’s policy director, said: “Universal credit showed that welfare reform can work when rooted in clear principles and designed for implementation. But soaring health benefit claims are reversing those gains and pushing thousands away from the workforce each day.”

Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice said:“Labour is waging a war on work. Benefits should never pay more than a full-time job. This Government penalises hard work, taxes graft, and rewards dependency. Only Reform UK is on the side of alarm-clock Britain – we’ll cut taxes, end welfare traps, reduce the burden on families, and make sure hard work finally pays again.”

Conservative Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately said: “Work should always pay, but Labour have scrapped reform, weakened checks, and allowed health-related benefits to balloon out of control. Labour are trapping people on welfare, and working families are treated like mugs for getting up every morning.

“Only the Conservatives have a leader with a backbone, the strong team and a plan to reform welfare, cut taxes and double apprenticeships to build a stronger economy and get Britain working again.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions said: “We are glad this report confirms that the vast majority of people are better off in work, and that some PIP claimants are working. This is a snapshot, as some of the jobs mentioned are likely to be roles on which people would progress to higher salaries during their careers.

“We will continue to ensure that people are better off in work, and are already rebalancing the rates of universal credit for sickness and unemployment this year, as well as investing £1billion to support people with health conditions back into the workplace.”