Nearly one in seven working-age households have no workers in them

NEARLY one in seven working-age households have no workers in them.

In all, there are 2.5million homes with at least one person aged 16 to 64 that have no one in work, figures show.

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The total is up by 30,000 in a year and accounts for 13.7 per cent of such households.

Nearly six in ten homes are all workers, while the rest are a mix of employed and unemployed.

It comes as calls grow to get the five million people on out-of-work benefits back into employment.

Senior Tory Sir Iain Duncan Smith pointed the finger at Covid for relaxing benefit rules which mandated people to look for work.

The Government’s Spring Budget set out a back-to-work drive, with a clampdown on sick notes and tightening up rules allowing people not to have to look for work.

Sir Iain told The Sun: “We have got to shake off the after-effects of Covid and get back to rules.

“We must get the remainder of people on sickness benefits on to Universal Credit so advisers can help them see what they can and can’t do.

“People who can work, must work.”

Nearly 400,000 people have quit the jobs market owing to long-term illness since 2020.