There are one million more people on jobless benefits in Britain since Labour came to power last year, official data has shown.
New figures, published by the Department for Work and Pensions, showed the number of people claiming Universal Credit hit 8 million last month.
This is the highest level since the benefit was first introduced in 2013 and compares to the 6.9 million people who were on Universal Credit in July 2024.
Universal Credit is a payment to help with living costs and is available for people in work who are on low incomes, but also those who are out of work or cannot work.
The steep rise in the number of claimants over the past 12 months has been driven almost entirely by people who are not required to work.
