Grimsby has been identified as the most workless area in Britain, with over half of its adult population receiving benefits and a life expectancy that falls 12 years below the national average.
Recent statistics reveal that 53% of individuals residing in the East Marsh and Port district of this Lincolnshire coastal city were beneficiaries of welfare payments during the initial quarter of the present year.
Thirty three per cent of residents claim sickness benefits, 11 per cent are on jobseekers’ allowance and nine per cent receive other benefits.
According to a report by The Telegraph, the life expectancy in this specific locality, where more than half of the locals are housed in social accommodations, stands at a mere 70 years, marking a significant deviation of 12 years from the average life expectancy across the country.
The data was collected by The Telegraph columnist Fraser Nelson for an upcoming Channel 4 documentary.
Mr Nelson said the system, as it stand, is ‘in crisis’ and said it was ‘the greatest challenge the new government’ is currently facing.
Other benefits hotspots included Drumchapel in Glasgow, central Blackpool, Birkenhead in Merseyside and Ardrossan on the Ayrshire coast in Scotland.
Grimsby has been revealed as Britain’s most workless capital after it emerged more than half of adults are on benefits and life expectancy is 12 years below average – homes pictured on the edge of the town centre
In Blackpool, 29 per cent of residents claim sickness benefits, 14 per cent are on jobseekers’ allowance and the average life expectancy is 72 years of age. Pictured: A general view from Blackpool Tower of terraced houses in Blackpool
In Blackpool, 29 per cent of residents claim sickness benefits, 14 per cent are on jobseekers’ allowance and the average life expectancy is 72 years of age.
In Birkenhead, 32 per cent of residents claim sickness benefits, 9 per cent are on jobseekers’ allowance and the average life expectancy is 71 years of age.
The new Channel 4 documentary, entitled Britain’s Benefits Scandal: Dispatches, will find that more than three million people are on long-term sickness benefits nationally.
The Telegraph reported this is up by one million in just five years and £48billion is being spent on sickness and disability benefits for working-age people.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has found that overall spending on sickness and disability benefits will top £100billion a year by 2030.
A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: ‘We’ve inherited a spiralling benefits bill with millions of people with a long-term illness or disability out of work and not getting the support they need.
A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: ‘We’ve inherited a spiralling benefits bill with millions of people with a long-term illness or disability out of work and not getting the support they need’ (file photo)
Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to crack down on the benefit system, taming the bill on welfare benefits and tackling those who ‘game the system’
‘We’re determined to fix this, and through our Get Britain Working White Paper we’ll ensure the system is better supporting people to get them into and stay in work – and crucially, bring down the benefits bill.’
It comes as Sir Keir Starmer pledged to crack down hard on the ‘bulging benefits bill blighting our society’.
The PM promised to make sweeping changes’ to try to tame the £137 billion bill for welfare benefits – including a blitz on cheats and those who ‘game the system’ – vowing: ‘No more business as usual.’
The amount spent by taxpayers on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) claims alone has shot up from just £700,000 a year in 2013 to an astonishing £292 million today, a rise of more than 41,000 per cent.
Labour’s plans include giving the NHS a role in getting people back to work, such as employing tens of thousands of people who are economically inactive for health reasons in non-clinical roles. Ms Kendall’s White Paper is also expected to include the placement of work coaches in mental health clinics.
The £137billion bill for benefits for working-age people includes £90 billion for disability and £35 billion for housing benefit.
A further £166 billion is paid to pensioners, taking the Government’s total social security expenditure to £303 billion, which is nearly 11 per cent of the country’s GDP.
Under the new reforms, the NHS is also likely to be tasked with working more closely with Jobcentres, linking local health and work and skills support as part of a drive to devolve more decision-making to local areas.
More detailed plans to reform welfare payments linked to health conditions will be announced in the new year.
