Labour’s plan to get Britain working means the end of a life on benefits

Our talent is languishing in three million households without a wage-earner in communities across the country

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Our country’s best asset is its people. But Britain’s talent is languishing in villages, towns and cities across the country.
Recent figures show three million households with no one in work, and 300,000 households where no one has ever worked – that’s the equivalent of a city the size of Leeds.
For all the Tories’ rhetoric about being “tough on benefits”, the reality is a near record 2.8 million people are now out of work due to long-term sickness, and almost a million young people are neither earning nor learning – that’s 1 in 8 of all young people.
Rates of worklessness are much higher in parts of the Midlands and the North, areas which were decimated in the 80s and 90s when whole industries closed – the very same places the Tories promised, but failed, to “level up” over the past 14 years.
Many of these areas are also those with the highest levels of ill-health, with thousands waiting months on end for NHS treatment. The result is a crisis which is terrible for people, the economy, and the public finances.
This Labour Government believes in work, and that the benefits of work go far beyond a payslip.
Work can bring a sense of pride and purpose. Good work is good for mental health, and for millions of women, work brings independence and equality too.
That’s why we will bring forward a new plan to Get Britain Working.
Our plans will kickstart the biggest reforms to work support in a generation – backed by £240 million of new funding.
We’ll overhaul Jobcentres away from the tickbox culture of administering benefits and into a genuine employment service, to help people get work and get on at work.
We’ll bring in a new Youth Guarantee so every young person is either earning or learning – there should be no option of a life on benefits for young people.
And we will get economically inactive people back to work, devolving funding to mayors and local leaders to join up work, health and skills support – because they know their areas best.
This comes alongside our £22 billion investment to get the NHS back on its feet, so people are not left months waiting for vital treatment in pain and unable to work, and our plans to create good jobs in every part of the country including through our modern industrial strategy.
So, if you’re looking for work, we’ll help you find a job.
If you have a health condition or disability and want to work, we will give you the proper support you need.
If you’re a young person starting out, we’ll make sure you are learning or earning.
If you own a business, we’ll help you find the talent you need to expand and thrive.
Unlike the Tories, we will never simply write people off and blame them for failing. Instead, we will get Britain working again and get Britain growing again.
Liz Kendall is the Work and Pensions Secretary
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