MYTHS ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY 7: “MOST WELFARE SPENDING GOES TO PEOPLE WHO ARE OUT-OF-WORK AND OF WORKING AGE”

This is far from the case. Most of the social security bill goes to pensioners, not to people of working age.

Payments aimed at pension-age recipients (such as state pension, Pension Credit etc.) account for 54% of total social security spend, projected to rise to 58% by 2016-17.

Expenditure by the DWP and HMRC on benefit payments, tax credits and state pensions is forecast to be £202.9 billion in 2012/13, accounting for 30% of total public expenditure and 13% of GDP.

And a large proportion of the social security budget spent on those of working age goes towards subsiding low paid jobs – through tax credits and increasingly through Housing Benefit.

In 2010/11, the vast majority of the £28.54 billion spent on tax credit entitlements by HMRC (£20.94 billion or 73.3%) went to working families (i.e. those working 16 hours or more a week).

Amongst those who received tax credits in 2010/11, in-work households made up the vast majority of claimants (76.82%).

Increased spending on subsidising low-pay accounted for 79.2% of the increase in spending on tax credits between 2004/05 and 2010/11.

The number of working people claiming Housing Benefit in England and Wales has risen by 417,830 since 2009.  Nearly 10,000 more working families every month are now reliant on Housing Benefit to help pay their private rent.