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Economy
May 25, 2026
Analyzed by Llama- 4 Scout 17B 16E Instruct

Focus on jobs, not benefits, to cut welfare bill, says thinktank

AI Summary
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation suggests that tackling joblessness is key to reducing the welfare bill, rather than cutting benefits. Research shows that getting 80% of the working-age population into jobs could cut the universal credit bill by £10bn.

The Welfare Bill Conundrum

Tackling the root causes of joblessness, instead of cutting benefits, is the best way to get the welfare bill down, and polling shows voters support that approach, according to research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

The Economic Impact of Joblessness

In a forthcoming report, JRF economists show that hitting the government’s target of getting 80% of the working age population into jobs would cut the cost of universal credit by £10bn – an eighth of the current bill.

The Data Analysis

  • The research points out that official projections show spending on non-pensioner benefits “will remain flat, at around 5% of GDP for the remainder of the parliament”.
  • A survey of more than 4,000 voters showed that 59% supported the idea of reducing the welfare bill in the longer term by tackling the underlying causes.

The Impact Analysis

The research seeks to push back against the “dominant political narrative” that spending on social security is “spiralling”. Instead, it points out that claims for health-related universal credit have risen more since the Covid pandemic in places where there are fewer jobs available locally, many of them former industrial or coastal areas.

The Prediction

The report contains calls for the government to prioritise measures such as increasing support for public health, building more social housing, and regenerating struggling regional economies. The research comes ahead of this week’s publication of the interim report from an inquiry into tackling young people not in education, employment or training (Neet) by Alan Milburn, the former cabinet minister who went on to chair the Social Mobility Commission.