More than 100,000 more people are claiming Universal Credit for mental health problems than just three months ago, official data shows.
It means almost a million people have started claiming benefits for mental health conditions since the end of lockdown, according to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Mental health was cited in 69pc of cases for people who are out of work.
The data showed that there were 978,300 claims linked to mental health conditions from January 2022 to February 2024, up from 874,000 in the period ending November 2023.
Britain is in the grip of a worklessness crisis, with DWP data also showing 65pc of claims since April 2019 were awarded to people who never have to look for work.
Claimants in this category are awarded an extra £5,000 a year on top of a standard £5,000 annual payment.
Meanwhile, people living in Wales were the most likely to be claiming health benefits without any obligation to look for work.
The data showed that more working-age women were claiming Universal Credit for health reasons than men, though the reverse was the case for people above retirement age.
DWP said 38pc of claimants were aged over 50 and a tenth were under 25.
Of the 2.6 million health claims processed by DWP over this four-year period, 16pc were rejected while 19pc were classified as having a “limited capability for work”.
This means they do not receive extra money, but less of their benefits are clawed back by the state once they start working.
The Tories want to scrap the so-called work capability assessment that determines Universal Credit benefit awards as part of a benefits overhaul aimed at saving £12bn a year by the end of the decade.
Labour also vowed on Thursday to support more people going into work.
“Too many people are out of work or not earning enough,” it said in its manifesto, blaming “long waits for treatment of health conditions, particularly mental health”.
It added: “Our system will be underpinned by rights and responsibilities – people who can work, should work – and there will be consequences for those who do not fulfil their obligations.”
Economists have warned that Britain’s worklessness crisis is threatening growth, with the number of adults neither in a job nor looking for one due to ill health now at a record high of 2.83 million.
Overall inactivity rose to more than 9.4 million in the three months to April, the highest since 2011.
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