Britain has highest rate of jobless homes

London: Britain has Europe's highest rate of people living in homes where no one has a job, it was revealed.

But at the same time, the proportion of families who consider themselves to be ‘deprived' is one of the lowest in the EU.

Analysts point to this contradiction as evidence that our welfare system is too generous to the workshy.

Nearly one in eight children and working age adults in the UK live in a home where no one goes out to work. However, fewer than one in 20 say they can't afford to pay their bills, eat properly, go on holiday, run a car or have a colour TV or a mobile phone.

The picture of a country where large numbers of people do not work — yet can afford to live as if they earn good money — was put together by Eurostat, the EU's statistics arm.

It comes as the Government faces opposition to its attempts to cap families to a maximum income from state handouts of £26,000 (Dh151,284) a year.

Deprivation

The figures show there is a higher proportion of people living in homes without work in the UK than in EU countries hit by the euro crisis. In Britain, 13.1 per cent of the population aged under 59 lives in a home where no adult works for 20 per cent of their time. In Germany, the proportion is 11.1 per cent, in France 9.8 per cent, and in Italy 10.2 per cent.

Britain's closest rival in the unemployment league table is Belgium, where 12.6 per cent of people under 59 are in homes with very little work. However, in Britain only 4.8 per cent of people count as ‘materially deprived', similar to levels in Germany which has 4.5 per cent.

This means they cannot afford to pay for four out of nine ‘deprivation items'.

The nine things considered to lift a family out of the deprived category include, the ability to pay the rent or utility bills on time; to keep the house warm; to be able to pay an unexpected bill; to eat meat or fish every second day; to afford a week's holiday; and to run a car.