Britain’s worklessness capital has been revealed as central Grimsby after it emerged that more than half of its working-age population claims out-of-work benefits.
Analysis compiled for an upcoming Channel 4 documentary presented by Fraser Nelson, the Telegraph columnist, found that 53 per cent of people in the East Marsh and Port area of the Lincolnshire seaside town were on welfare in the first quarter of this year.
No fewer than 33 per cent of residents claim sickness benefits, 11 per cent are on jobseekers’ allowance and nine per cent receive other benefits.
Life expectancy in the area, where more than half of residents live in social housing, is just 70 years of age, 12 years below the national average.
Other benefits hotspots revealed by the analysis include central Blackpool, where 51 per cent are on out-of-work benefits, central Birkenhead, where the figure is 47 per cent, and the north of Drumchapel, in Glasgow, where it stands at 46 per cent.
The Dispatches programme, titled Britain’s Benefits Scandal, will find that more than three million people are on long-term sickness benefits nationwide, up by one million in just five years and that £48 billion a year is being spent on sickness and disability benefits for working-age people.
Mr Nelson, the former editor of The Spectator, said in a trailer for the programme: “I think this is the greatest challenge the new government is facing because the system, right now, is in crisis.”
The Office for Budget Responsibility has forecast that, on current trends, overall spending on sickness and disability benefits will top £100 billion a year by 2030.
A Conservative Party analysis of official Treasury figures this week found that spending on handouts for ill health is ballooning at a rate of £266 million a month.
An extra 17,000 people are signing up for payments each month as mental health problems and obesity fuel a worklessness crisis.
However, the Government has delayed proposals on reforming the welfare system until next year.
Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary, told Parliament on Tuesday that she would put forward plans for overhauling the welfare system in spring.
Once the planned changes to the welfare system are announced, they will first be consulted on, and then would probably require legislation to be enacted. As a result, any reform is unlikely to be realised before 2026 at the earliest.
The Department for Work and Pensions was approached for comment.
Britain’s Benefits Scandal: Dispatches airs on Channel 4 at 8pm on Monday.
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