Fewer than 100,000 to find work through Labour jobs scheme, study finds
19 May 2025, 07:50 | Updated: 19 May 2025, 07:53
A £1bn-a-year back-to-work programme will not compensate for the millions hit by Sir Keir Starmer’s benefits cuts, a study has found.
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Fewer than 100,000 people will get jobs through Labour’s £1bn-a-year back-to-work programme, according to new study.
The new findings warn the programme cannot come close to compensating for the millions hit by benefit cuts.
Experts warned on Sunday that the programme might only help about 70,000 get jobs by the next election in 2029.
Sir Keir will attempt to convince his party to back his £4.8 billion in welfare cuts at a meeting with backbenchers on Monday night as he battles to stave off a rebellion.
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Up to 170 Labour MPs could oppose the government or abstain in a vote expected next month, arguing they cannot back the cuts until ministers set out a full assessment of their impact.
However, it is understood that no more detailed analysis of the effects of the reforms will be released before the vote.
An impact assessment in March found that 250,000 people would be pushed into poverty and 3.2 million families would lose an average of £1,720 each a year.
Ministers insist this will be offset by a £1 billion-a-year boost to employment support programmes, which will “mitigate the poverty impact” by helping people to find jobs.
It has become one of the primary defences against criticism of the cuts to personal independence payments, the main disability benefit, as well as incapacity benefits for those deemed unfit to work.
A full assessment of the back-to-work scheme is set to be launched in autumn by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
Detailed analysis of the costs and benefits of ten support schemes, including those favoured by ministers, found that they tended to cost £3,000 to £5,000 per person.
Stephen Evans, chief executive of the Learning and Work Institute, the think tank that carried out the research, said that an expansion of support was “welcome and substantial".
He added: "But even on generous assumptions, it will help tens of thousands of people into work compared to the millions affected by benefit cuts.”
