Work and Pensions Secretary guilty again of peddling benefit myths, says TUC

date: 24 April 2013

embargo: For immediate release

Responding to the latest Department for Work and Pensions statistics published today (Wednesday) on the duration of working-age benefits, TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady said:

'It's tragic to see the Work and Pensions Secretary once again peddling myths about benefits in order to provide cover for more austerity and his own failure to tackle rising unemployment.

'The fact is that the majority of the million benefit claimants that he believes are 'fit to work' have either been declared not-yet fit-to-work by his own department, or are lone parents with children below school age, who will struggle to find work given the high cost of childcare.

'The Work and Pensions Secretary should spend less time wasting taxpayers' money on bogus benefits propaganda and more time getting to grips with the real issue of rising unemployment, particularly the one million young people currently struggling for work.'

Last week the TUC wrote to the UK Statistics Authority, calling on it to investigate the Work and Pensions Secretary for 'misusing' official statistics to justify the government's benefits cap.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- The DWP research is published at http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/adhoc_analysis/2013/duration_wa_benefits_analysis_gb.pdf

- Of the 1,008,000 benefit claimants that have been out of work for three of the last four years, around 40 per cent have been claiming Jobseekers' Allowance (JSA), a further 30 per cent are lone parents with children under seven claiming Income Support (IS) while the remaining 30 per cent are either claiming Employment Support Allowance (ESA) or are in the process of being assessed.

- All ESA claimants are unable to work. Those on the work-related activity group are expected to be able to work eventually but are not-yet-fit-to-work.

- Contrary to government claims about endemic worklessness, four in five people who claim JSA come off the benefit within six months.

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