Number of workless households falls

But the latest data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also showed that the number of households where all adults that live in it work has also fallen. From April to June this year there were 10.9 million such households, representing 53 per cent and a fall of 36,000 homes.

During the same period there were 3.7 million UK households with at least one member aged 16 to 64 where no one was in work, representing 17.9 per cent of households. This was the second consecutive fall, compared to 2010 when almost four million UK households had no adults in work.

Sickness was the main reason given for not working by those people aged 16 to 64; the second most common was being unemployed, accounting for around three in every 10 workless people; the next three were looking after the family, retirement and study, accounting for around one in five.