{"id":28401,"date":"2026-05-04T17:54:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T17:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/28401\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T17:54:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T17:54:18","slug":"dwp-urged-to-reduce-benefits-payments-for-600000-claimants-in-crackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/28401\/","title":{"rendered":"DWP urged to reduce benefits payments for 600,000 claimants in crackdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

600,000 households received more than the average worker\u2019s salary in benefits last year, according to new data.<\/p>\n

14:02, 04 May 2026Updated 14:24, 04 May 2026<\/p>\n

\"DWP<\/p>\n

DWP urged to reduce benefits payments for 600,000 claimants in crackdown<\/p>\n

The Department for Work and Pensions is being urged to lower payments for 600,000 people – amid fears they are taking home MORE than an average salary.<\/p>\n

600,000 households received more than the average worker\u2019s salary in benefits last year, according to new data. New figures show that, 625,618 households were given more than \u00a332,200 \u2013 the average annual take-home pay of a British worker \u2013 in DWP<\/a> benefits.<\/p>\n

Of the 600,000 households, 267,000 were paid more than \u00a340,000 a year, 91,000 received more than \u00a350,000 and 16,289 were given more than \u00a360,000, an 8.5 per cent rise from the Labour Party<\/a> government.<\/p>\n

READ MORE MOT warning for popular car which has just 71 per cent pass rate<\/a><\/p>\n

Neil O\u2019Brien, the shadow minister for policy development, said: \u201cThe real-terms growth and scale of really large benefit claims from working-age households make the case for a return to welfare reform stronger.”<\/p>\n

The Conservative Party<\/a> MP added: \u201cWe need reforms across all types of benefit \u2013 and particularly the household benefit cap, which is no longer really constraining the growth of really large claims.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome households are getting a lot more in benefits than the average person gets to take home after working full-time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need a system that\u2019s fair to taxpayers as well as those benefiting from it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helen Whately, the Tories<\/a> ‘ shadow work and pensions secretary, said: \u201cThe household benefit cap means you can opt out of work and still get thousands of pounds of extra benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will make the cap do what it\u2019s supposed to do \u2013 make sure work always pays. Welfare should be a safety net, not a lifestyle choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Government spokesperson said: \u201cThe 2 per cent of households receiving this level of support have the highest needs and require extra assistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe benefit cap exempts households where one or more residents have a severe disability requiring extra support and are among the most vulnerable in our society and it is right that they receive it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"600,000 households received more than the average worker\u2019s salary in benefits last year, according to new data. 14:02,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1120,5,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-28401","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"tag-dwp","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116517592308681605","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}