Almost 150,000 more children spent Christmas in a home without an income this year after the number of jobless households hit an 11-year high under Labour, official figures show.
There were 1.52 million youngsters living in a house where not a single adult family member is employed as of September, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.
Last year, 1.37 million children were in a workless household in October to December 2024, meaning an extra 146,000 children spent Christmas in a home without an income this year.
The figures also reveal that the number of children in workless households is at its highest level for 11 years. The last time there were more children in a house where no adult family member is employed was in October to December 2014, when the total was 1.54 million.
The Conservatives blamed the rise on Labour’s £25billion raid on employer National Insurance contributions and minimum wage hikes, which have driven up the cost of taking on workers.
They claim that with firms scaling back and jobs disappearing, more families are being pushed out of the workforce entirely, leaving children to bear the consequences.
Helen Whately, Tory spokesman on work and pensions, said: ‘Too many parents are being priced out of work by Labour’s Jobs Tax and Unemployment Rights Bill.
‘It’s a tough Christmas for people who have been made redundant and can’t find new work, and for those still in jobs seeing their taxes go up to pay for more benefits. Labour is offering more and more handouts to people on benefits, making welfare the rational choice rather than work.
There were 1.52 million youngsters living in a house where not a single adult family member is employed as of September, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (file photo)
‘Instead of wobbling like a Christmas jelly in the face of his backbenchers, Keir Starmer should get a backbone and reform welfare properly. Only the Conservatives have a plan to make £23billion of welfare savings, cut taxes and get Britain working again.’
The total number of workless households has increased to more than three million under Labour – the highest figure for almost a decade – with this rise driven by sickness and disability claims.
Almost 40 per cent of those people living in a jobless household are now out of work because they are registered sick or disabled after the proportion ballooned following the Covid pandemic.
The situation comes after Prime Minister Sir Keir was forced to abandon plans to trim the benefits bill by £5billion in July following a major backlash by Labour backbenchers. The proposals have been shelved pending a review.
Meanwhile November’s Budget contained no substantial measures to cut welfare while Chancellor Rachel Reeves spent £3.1billion lifting the two-child benefit cap in what was dubbed a ‘Budget for Benefits Street’.
The Government said the number of lone parents in employment has increased by 55,000 in the past year, up to 1.3 million.
A spokesman said: ‘This is a situation that has been years in the making, which is why we need to step up our plan to Get Britain Working.
‘We are reforming a broken system by shifting our focus from welfare to work, skills and opportunities – backed by £1billion a year for employment support by the end of the decade to support thousands of people out of work to find and stay in work.
‘Alongside this, we are delivering the biggest reforms to Job centres since the early 2000s to end the tick-box culture, giving staff the flexibility to offer a more personalised service to job seekers and help them into good, secure jobs.’
