Unemployed people on benefits will receive £2,500 more a year than a minimum wage worker, analysis reveals.
Those who are jobless on sickness payments are due to overtake taxpayers on the national living wage who will earn less after tax.
Next year, a Universal Credit claimant who is not working and claims the average housing benefit and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for ill health will receive £25,000.
However, a full-time worker on the national living wage will earn £22,500 after paying income tax and National Insurance in 2026/27.
The calculations, which were made by the Centre for Social Justice, reveals how generous the welfare system is.
This is after Sir Keir Starmer was forced to water down his Welfare Bill earlier this month, including £5billion worth of cuts to disability entitlements.
The CSJ also found that a jobless single parent claiming for anxiety and for a child with ADHD would receive £37,000 a year.
Former work and pensions secretary Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: “Before lockdown, we had the lowest numbers of workless households since records began.
“However figures from the Centre for Social Justice show how damaging Covid was and that, since then, the scale of the disincentive to work has grown dramatically.”
Joe Shalam, policy director at the CSJ, added: “People who cannot work due to sickness or disability must always be protected, but as our research shows, too many people are trapped in a cycle of dependency and wasted potential.
Too many people are trapped in a cycle of dependency and wasted potential
“By tightening eligibility for mental health benefits and investing in therapy and employment support, ministers can save public money and transform lives.”
Last week the Office for Budget Responsibility said sickness benefit payments, caused by a rise in mental health issues, were set to hit £100billion by the end of the decade and warned that Britain’s finances were in a “vulnerable position”.
A Government spokesman said: “We inherited a broken social security system that is failing people on all accounts.
“We are changing the system so it genuinely supports those who can work into employment and ensuring the safety net will always be there for the most vulnerable – and puts the spiralling welfare bill on a more sustainable footing.
“Through our £2.2billion employment support funding over the next four years, we are also building on the success of programmes like Connect to Work, which help disabled people and those with health conditions into work.”
