17 July 2025, 07:50

By Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP

Covid struck the UK and other countries a huge blow.

Shutting down an economy three times in two years to protect the public from the pandemic had dire consequences. Perhaps the greatest consequence is that since 2020, the number of workless households has more than doubled. The working-age welfare bill – driven by a surge in long-term sickness and disability claims – is set to hit £131 billion by 2030. This is not a trend matched by other countries, the IFS point out, while the two-thirds increase in health benefit spending since 2019 has not obviously improved outcomes for anybody.

Indeed, as the CSJ’s Social Justice Commission heard from grassroots charities last year, the system increasingly “rewards” ill health. Yes, Universal Credit transformed and simplified the benefit system, helping thousands into work pre-pandemic. By 2019, we had the lowest rate of workless households since records........

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