Are 3.1 million Brits really too sick to work?

Is it any wonder that the economy is struggling in spite of an apparently booming jobs market, with employers finding it difficult to hire recruits and average earnings rising by 5.9 per cent in the past year? Here is a shocking statistic which goes a long way to explaining the apparent paradox: there are now 3.1 million people claiming Universal Credit with no requirement to seek work – a number which has doubled in just three years.

We have to be careful with the absolute numbers, because as benefit claimants are gradually moved onto Universal Credit the figures are bound to grow. But as the chart from the Department for Work and Pensions’ latest release on Universal Credit shows, it isn’t just the number of people who are claiming Universal Credit with no requirement to seek work which is growing – the proportion of Universal Credit claimants in this category is also growing sharply.