Debbie Abrahams, MP (Photo:Stuart Coleman©2012)
Debbie Abrahams, MP, has spoken out against the Government’s welfare to work record as figures released by the House of Commons library show a 12.7% rise in the number of households where no one has ever worked in Oldham East and Saddleworth.
The number of households in the constituency where no one has ever worked rose from 3,038 in April 2011 to 3,423 in April 2012. Across the country, in the last quarter of 2011, there were 291,000 households in which no one had ever worked, a rise of over 7% on the year before.
Debbie said: “One year after the Government’s Work Programme started we’ve seen the number of workless households in Oldham East and Saddleworth go up by over 12%. Now we learn the number of households across the country, where no one has ever worked, has hit an all time high. It’s fresh proof that the Government’s welfare to work reforms are failing.
“The House of Commons library figures reveal the government is spending an extra £9 billion on dole payments and housing benefits. Now we know why. The number of workless households is going through the roof.
“The government can’t simply ignore people who are trapped in long term unemployment consigning them to the scrap heap. They should be focussing on getting the economy growing and creating tailored programmes to deal with specific issues associated with long term unemployment.
“I will be meeting privately with some of the Work Programme providers locally in the next few weeks.”
Latest ONS figures on working and workless households – 4th Quarter 2004 to 2011 can be found here.http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/
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