Workless households fall slightly

The number of households in the UK where no one is working has fallen slightly to just under four million, official figures show.

There was a fall of 38,000, or 0.3 per cent, in the quarter to June to 3.88 million (18.8 per cent), said the Office for National Statistics.

A total of 1.84 million children lived in these so-called workless households.

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The percentage of households where all adults were in work was 53.5 per cent, up 0.5 per cent from a year earlier.

The North East had the highest percentage of workless households, while the number of households in which no adult has ever worked was 370,000, up 18,000 from a year earlier. Employment Minister Chris Grayling said: “Over the last decade thousands of people were simply abandoned to a lifetime on benefits, and a staggering 1.84 million children are living in homes where currently no one works.

“This is why we launched the Work Programme this summer which will give tailor-made support to help people get off benefits and get into work.”