Children living in homes on benefits hit a record low

THE number of children living in homes dependant on benefits dropped to a record low this summer.

There were fewer than 1.3million children in families where no one has a job, new figures showed, a level down by more than 600,000 since Tory benefit reforms began seven years ago.

Hundreds of thousands of children have been freed from reliance on state handouts as their parents have taken jobs, said the Office for National Statistics. Many of them are children of single parents, among whom 161,000 have moved into work over the past two years.

During the past year the number of families where at least one adult has a job has risen by 200,000 to 12million, the figures showed. In the three months between July and September there were more than a million more working families than there were when Labour left office in 2010.

Employment Minister Damian Hinds said reforms meant people are moving into work faster and staying in work longer and added: ‘Being in work is one of the best ways people can improve their family’s lives.’