The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been urged to commence welfare reform as a new study reveals jobless benefit claimants have surged by 2.7 million since 2019. The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) is calling on Andy Burnham, the likely successor to Sir Keir Starmer as Labour Party leader, to grasp the nettle of welfare reform without delay.
Rise in claimants per Prime Minister
For every Prime Minister shown the door since 2019, the number of out-of-work claimants rose by an average of 540,000. The total increase of 2.7 million claimants over the period highlights a growing dependency on welfare benefits, according to the CSJ study.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, former Conservative Party MP and CSJ Chairman, said: “Welfare reform takes courage and time. But the rewards are enormous. Getting fewer than one quarter of those on long-term benefits back to work would generate £18 billion – enough to cut taxes by thousands, slash the deficit, or boost defence to 3 per cent of GDP. Even more importantly, it would transform lives forever by extending all the advantages that come with a job. Whoever emerges as the next Prime Minister must grasp the nettle without delay.”
Andy Burnham's stance on education and welfare
Mr Burnham, expected to be the next Prime Minister, previously echoed calls for a technical alternative to end the NEETs crisis at a CSJ event. He said: “The Government that I was in set the 50 per cent target for university without having anything to say to the other 50 per cent, and I couldn’t support that then and I didn’t. The CSJ has begun to change the conversation in this country about an education that works for all, and it chimes with everything we have tried to do in Greater Manchester. What we are trying to do is build an academic and technical parity in an education system that offers everyone a route.”
Call for immediate action
Joe Shalam, Policy Director at the Centre for Social Justice, said: “The Westminster chaos that has come to define the last decade has coincided with rising welfare dependency, growing disillusionment with our education system, and the ensuing scandal of wasted potential. The next occupant of No 10 must immediately commence a programme of reform, expanding meaningful support instead of blunt welfare payments and building an education system that equips young people for adulthood. If the next Prime Minister wants to succeed where their predecessors failed, they must stop managing decline and start fixing Broken Britain.”
The CSJ study underscores the urgent need for the DWP to reform benefits and reduce the number of out-of-work claimants, which has risen dramatically since 2019.
