A record 6.5 million Britons are claiming out of work benefits - a jump of 500,000 since Labour came to power.
The number of people receiving some form of out of work welfare surpassed six million after Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister last July and has continued to rise, Government figures suggest.
Joblessness benefits are made up of incapacity benefits, unemployment support and Universal Credit payments.
The number of working-age adults receiving some form of these payments has surged 79% since early 2018.
The number of adults on out-of-work benefits last peaked at 5.9million in February 2021 when the country was in the grip of the Covid-19 lockdowns.
The number has been declining steadily since then. However, it began rising again in May 2022 and has climbed by nearly 9% since Labour came to power last summer.
More than 15% of the working-age population were on out-of-work benefits as of February 2025, according to the latest Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) figures.
This is up 9% in a decade.
Tory shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith told the Telegraph: “This shows Britain has a worklessness crisis which Labour seems determined to make even worse with more tax rises and additional employment red tape.
“Rather than watch it spiral out of control, Labour need to U-turn now.”
When Labour came to power, Sir Keir vowed to boost employment, deliver better training and increase wages.
But hiring has slowed as many businesses blame Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ decision to increase employer national insurance contributions alongside raising minimum wage.
Government plans to slash disability benefits were also scaled back earlier this year amid a revolt of backbench MPs and there has been a sharp increase in the number of young people claiming sickness benefits for mental health reasons.
The number of people aged 25 and under claiming sickness benefits has jumped by over 50% since the start of 2020 to a record 235,000.
More than 900,000 Londoners say they are unable to hold a full-time job because of a long-term health condition – including a rising number of younger adults in the city blaming mental health issues.
A City Hall report in March revealed that, over the last decade, there has been a 62% increase in the number of Londoners reporting a work-limiting mental health condition.
It comes as Resolution Foundation predicted that Britain’s unemployment rate is on track to hit 5% in the three months to August.
The think tank, which based its research on a range of job indicators, said unemployment in the UK was likely to soon hit the highest level since 2021, the Financial Times reported.
A Government spokesman for DWP said: “These figures are yet more evidence of the broken welfare system we inherited that is denying people the support they need to get into work and get on at work.
“That’s why we are rebalancing the rate of Universal Credit to increase work incentives, while also investing £3.8bn over this parliament to genuinely help sick or disabled people into jobs, while ensuring there is always a safety net for the most vulnerable.”
