Get Britain Working: Public want supportive rather than punitive welfare reform
Ahead of the government white paper on welfare reform, the Good Growth Foundation commissioned Opinium to conduct a nationally representative poll of 2,000 people to test attitudes towards different policies aimed at reducing the number of people who are unemployed or economically inactive. This research shows large support for tailored support to get people into work over punitive measures.
Key stats on specific measures:
50% oppose withdrawing benefits from those who are unemployed or economically inactive to push them to find work.
77% support Labour’s Youth Guarantee and 72% support providing skills training to those who are unemployed or economically inactive, even if it costs the government money in the short term.
Skills policies were most likely to be listed in people’s top 3 policies to increase the number of people in work.
63% support tax credits to make work pay and make unemployment less attractive. Tax credits were most likely to be ranked as the most popular policy.
50% support maintaining access to disability welfare payments whilst taking on work and 53% support providing tailored physical and mental health support.
49% agreed that withdrawing benefits from people would lead to an increase in crime.
32% of respondents - largely Conservative and Reform voters - support withdrawing benefits and support to push unemployed people to find employment.
The second part of the Good Growth Foundation’s polling tested people’s attitudes towards conditionality in the welfare system, and the circumstances in which people should receive benefits. These were put forward as agree/disagree statements.
Key stats on conditionality:
While people feel strongly that those offered work should take it, the Government should go further for those who fail to find employment:
38% of respondents felt that those who are unemployed and reject a job offer should have their benefits withdrawn.
But 65% of respondents supported providing additional training and careers guidance for those who are failing to find work.
68% of those polled backed tailored support for those with disabilities to help them into work, such as workplace adjustments.
The vast majority of respondents rejected the Conservative’s April proposals, with 71% agreeing that if someone is out of work due to a mental health condition, they should receive adequate mental health support before they are required to look for work.
There is broad support for maintaining benefits for those with caring responsibilities that struggle to find work (53%).
“Our research shows that the British public is much more sympathetic to those on benefits than is often thought within Westminster. There is widespread support for measures which enable people to get into work, especially for improving access to skills and training. On the whole, Brits don’t want to see benefits withdrawn, they want to see a system that gives people the resources they need to get back on their feet.”
Appendix: Data tables from survey results
Opinium conducted an online survey of 2,048 UK adults from 20th to 22nd November 2024, results have been weighted to nationally representative criteria.
In addition to the results laid out above, these are the results from Question 3B where we asked respondents to rank the top 3 policies they think the government should prioritise to increase the number of people in work. The first graph illustrates which proposal they support the most, followed by the second graph showing their top 3 policies.
