Universal credit claimants not required to work up by 1.1 million in a year

The number of people claiming universal credit (UC) in Britain who are not required to work has risen by more than a million in a year, new figures show.

There were four million people in this category in October, making up almost half (48.7%) of all claimants.

UC is a payment to help with living costs and is available for people in work who are on low incomes, as well as those who are out of work or cannot work.

People in the “no work requirements” bracket can include those in full-time education, over the state pension age, someone with a child aged under one, and those considered to have no prospect of work.

There were 8.3 million people overall on UC in October, a rise from 7.2 million at the same point last year, figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) showed.

The data covers England, Scotland and Wales.

The year-on-year change of 1.1 million is the largest annual increase in total claimants since early in the Covid pandemic – the 12 months to April 2021.

The rise of 159,654 in total UC claimants between September and October was the largest monthly increase since June 2020.

The steep rise in the past 12 months has been driven almost entirely by people who are not required to work, rising from 2.9 million in that category a year ago in October 2024 and up from 2.2 million in October 2023.

Claimants in the no work requirements category accounted for 40.4% of all UC claims in October 2024 and 36.3% in October 2023.

Other claimants are required to do certain work-related activities to receive the UC benefit, such as attending interviews to plan for their return to work or actively searching for work.

The number of people in this searching for work category stood at 1.6 million in October and the number of working people on UC stood at 2.2 million last month.

The numbers in both of those categories have remained unchanged year-on-year.

The Labour Government has previously said it “inherited a broken welfare system and spiralling, unsustainable benefits bill” from the Conservatives, and is working on reforms including tightening rules on who can claim UC.

In July, the DWP published a breakdown of UC claimants by immigration status for the first time, “following a public commitment to investigate and develop breakdowns of the UC caseload by the immigration status of foreign nationals in receipt of UC”.

The latest data, published on Tuesday, once again showed the vast majority of UC claimants were British and Irish nationals and those who live or work in the UK without any immigration restrictions.

This group accounted for 84.3% of all UC claimants in October, up from 82.9% in October 2024.

Of these, 99.9% were UK citizens and around a third (32%) were in employment.

Around one in 10 (9.2%) UC claimants were those with EU Settlement Scheme settled status who have a right to reside in the UK, down from 10.4% on the same point last year.

Some 2.6% were people who had indefinite leave to remain in the UK, up from 2.2% the previous year.

These three categories made up 96% of the UC caseload, which the DWP said is “in line with the general principle that only people who are settled in the UK or protected by the EU Exit Withdrawal Agreement should be able to claim Universal Credit”.

Refugees accounted for 1.5% of UC claimants, which is unchanged from the same point last year.

Around 0.6% were people who had come by safe and legal humanitarian routes including under the Ukraine and Afghan resettlement schemes, down slightly down from 0.7% a year ago.

Around 0.9% of those on UC had limited leave to remain in the UK – covering those with temporary immigration status – down from 1.2% on the same point last year.

The remaining 0.8% included those who were either no longer receiving UC payments or had no immigration status recorded on digital systems, the DWP said. This was down slightly from 0.9%.

A DWP spokesperson said: “The number of people receiving universal credit has been increasing as we have invited tens of thousands of people each month to move from legacy benefits as they become phased out.

“We’re determined to get more people off welfare and into work. That’s why we are stepping up our plan to Get Britain Working with the most ambitious employment reforms in a generation. This includes modernising jobcentres and providing tailored support through the Connect to Work programme.

“Every eligible young person who has been on universal credit for 18 months without earning or learning will also be offered guaranteed paid work through our Youth Guarantee.”