Why Britain’s benefits problem is likely to get worse

More than half of Britons receive more from the state than they pay in taxes, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics. The proportion of those receiving more through benefits than they paid in taxes last year fell slightly to 52.6 per cent, down a percentage point compared with the year before. The data – which factors in use of public services, such as schools and the NHS, as well as welfare payments and benefits – highlights the fundamental problem underlying the British state: how do we support a population that is aging, getting ill and becoming increasingly workshy?

As you’d expect, more than 85 per cent of pensioners are so-called net recipients who take more from the state than they put in. But alarmingly, more than four in ten working-age Britons are net recipients too. If that proportion continues to grow, the size of the state and the services it provides will become increasingly difficult to maintain and fund.