More than seven million working-age adults across England and Wales are now receiving Universal Credit, according to new research from the Taxpayers’ Alliance.
Based on the data, this means roughly one in five people aged 20 to 64 are claiming the country’s principal unemployment or sickness benefit.
The campaign group’s analysis found that 7.3 million people were on universal credit as of May this year. Among younger claimants, 1.3 million were in their twenties, whilst two million were in their thirties.
Notably, the figures found that one in four Britons in their forties, some 1.9 million individuals, were receiving the benefit.
Universal Credit claims are on the rise, according to new research
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The findings have intensified an already fierce political debate over welfare spending and the Government’s efforts to move nearly a million young people not in work, education or training into employment.
Benefit dependency is particularly concentrated in certain parts of the country, with 15 local authority areas recording Universal Credit claimant rates of at least 30 per cent among working-age residents.
Blackpool topped the list at 35.2 per cent, while Birmingham, Bradford and Middlesbrough also registered notably high figures.
William Yarwood, campaigns director at the Taxpayers’ Alliance, described the reliance on benefits in some regions as “endemic”.
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He said: “Generations are being dumped on benefits, written off and condemned to a life of dependency as ministers make it harder for them to find a job.”
“If Andy Burnham was serious about growth in every postcode, he would be making it more affordable to hire young people.”
Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) projections show the total benefits bill climbing from approximately £315billion in 2024-25 to beyond £400billion by the decade’s end.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately argued that Britain “can’t afford” the surging demand for benefits, calling it “unfair to taxpayers footing the bill”.
More than eight million people are claiming Universal Credit | GETTY
She shared: “I’ve been to benefit hotspots like Blackpool, where welfare has become a way of life. This has to stop. “A generation of talent is also being wasted when young people sign on to welfare instead of start work.”
Ms Whately accused Prime Minister Andy Burnham of lacking “the backbone to reform welfare” as Chancellor John Healey prepares for his Budget statement on October 28.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP0pushed back against the criticism, noting that three-quarters of the rise in Universal Credit cases since July 2024 stems from claimants being transferred from legacy benefits.
A spokesman added: “We’re putting work and opportunity at the heart of the system, and the final recommendations from the Timms and Milburn reviews will lay the foundation for sustainable reform.”