Spectator Exclusive: Britain’s welfare ghettos

Today we are releasing a brand new picture of the nation’s welfare ghettos. Our research gives a disheartening insight into the extent of dependency in England and Wales. The top line: things are getting worse.

This is much more detailed and useful information that the statistics often bandied about by politicians. It is well known, for example, that nearly 2 million people have been claiming out-of-work benefits for more than five years. But what does that look like?

We’ve examined the smallest measurable units recorded by the Department for Work and Pensions (the technical term is ‘Lower Super Output Areas’) which are smaller even than council wards – they contain about 1,000 people – to show the ghettos into which public money goes in and nothing comes out.

Fraser did this kind of research for the first time two years ago, drawing the first meaningful picture of dependency on out of work benefits.