Greater than half 1,000,000 households obtain extra in advantages than the typical employee’s wage, a stunning evaluation has revealed.
Greater than 600k households obtain extra in advantages than the typical employee’s wage (Picture: Getty)
Greater than 600,000 households acquired extra in advantages than the everyday UK employee’s wage after tax, a stunning Conservative-led evaluation has revealed. The figures present that 625,618 households had been handed over £32,200 in welfare payouts in 2025 – barely greater than the median annual wage of a British employee after tax is deducted – regardless of the introduction of a advantages cap.
The evaluation additionally revealed that 16,000 households acquired over £60,000 in welfare funds – nearly twice the highest of the median annual take-home pay for a person employee within the UK after tax. Calling for a reform of “all varieties of profit”, Neil O’Brien, the shadow minister for coverage growth, who carried out the evaluation, stated: “The true-terms development and scale of actually giant profit claims from working-age households make the case for a return to welfare reform stronger.
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The variety of working-age households receiving greater than £30,000 a yr in advantages has risen by over a 3rd to 800,000 (Picture: Getty)
“We want reforms throughout all varieties of profit – and significantly the family profit cap, which is not actually constraining the expansion of actually giant claims,” he added, in line with The Telegraph.
“Some households are getting much more in advantages than the typical individual will get to take house after working full-time. We want a system that’s honest to taxpayers in addition to these benefiting from it.”
Labour, nevertheless, maintained that households receiving this stage of assist had the “highest stage of want”, with a number of relations struggling extreme incapacity.
The evaluation signifies that the variety of working-age households receiving greater than £30,000 a yr in advantages has risen by over a 3rd to 800,000. This enhance comes after the Division for Work and Pensions (DWP) started utilizing administrative information on precise incomes somewhat than relying solely on survey responses. Of those households, round 667,278 acquired greater than the typical wage of £32,200 in 2023/24 – a document excessive and 30% larger than the earlier yr. The determine fell to 625,618 in 2024/25, however remained twice as excessive because the 392,000 recorded in 2019/20.
The 600,000-plus households account for one in 30 households within the UK. Of these, 267,000 acquired greater than £40,000 a yr, 91,000 had been paid greater than £50,000 and 16,289 acquired greater than £60,000 a yr in 2024/25 – an 8.5% enhance on the earlier yr.
The profit cap, launched in 2013 by George Osborne, the Chancellor on the time, was designed to restrict the utmost quantity of advantages {that a} working-age family can obtain to encourage folks into work. As of 2026, in Better London, that is as much as £442.31 per week for {couples} or households and £296.35 for single adults. For these outdoors of London, it’s as much as £384.62 per week for {couples} or households and £257.69 for single adults.
Nevertheless, a big loophole exists. If the family consists of one grownup receiving a incapacity profit, even when different adults within the household are totally capable of work, all of them keep away from the profit restrict. The Conservatives are proposing to shut the loophole that permits uncapped advantages for a whole family when just one grownup is eligible for the Private Independence Fee (PIP).
They may require all adults who’re capable of work to be employed for at the very least 16 hours per week and face a cap if they don’t seem to be.
The DWP stated Mr O’Brien’s figures had been an overestimation (Picture: Getty)
Helen Whately, the shadow work and pensions secretary, stated: “The family profit cap means you possibly can decide out of labor and nonetheless get 1000’s of kilos of additional advantages.
“We are going to make the cap do what it’s imagined to do – make sure that work all the time pays. Welfare ought to be a security web, not a life-style selection.”
The DWP stated Mr O’Brien’s figures had been an overestimation. A Authorities spokesman stated: “The 2 per cent of households receiving this stage of assist have the best wants, and require additional assist.
“The profit cap exempts households the place a number of residents have a extreme incapacity requiring additional assist and are among the many most weak in our society, and it’s proper that they obtain it.”
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