NEW data shows over a quarter of homes have a non-working adult as financial experts warned that “the Budget needs to tackle the real barriers to work”.
There were an estimated 26.7% of households with a mix of at least one working and one workless adult, and an estimated 14.1% of households where no member of the household was in employment, Office for National Statistics data shows.
Of the estimated 21.85 million households, where at least one member is aged 16 to 64 years, in the UK, 59.2% had all household members aged 16 years and over in employment during July to September 2025.
The figures on households with a non-working adult have been released ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Budget this afternoon.
Millions of adults out of work
Kate Underwood, Managing Director at Southampton-based Kate Underwood HR and Training, urged Reeves to focus on barriers to work in the Budget today to improve the non-working adult ratio.
She added: “If nearly 1 in 7 households have no one in work, that’s not just a stat. It’s a reality small businesses are dealing with every day. They’re already struggling to find and keep good people while juggling rising wages and stretched teams. There are millions of working-age adults still out of work.
“That’s a huge missed opportunity. The Budget needs to tackle the real barriers to work – childcare, health, skills, transport. If not, then all the growth talk is just noise. Small businesses can’t fix the system, but they’re the ones who’ll carry on picking up the slack on Monday morning.”
Colette Mason, Author & AI Consultant at London-based Clever Clogs AI, said it was only going to get worse with AI due to lead to more unemployment.
She continued: “The UK labour market has hollowed out the middle and is crumbling at the bottom. We’ve got high-skill, high-pay jobs and low-pay stable jobs like carework, with not much between.
“These non-working adult household figures likely reflect the casualties: mixed households where one person clings to middle-class employment whilst another has fallen into the gig economy, zero-hours, or worklessness.
“With the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) predicting one in six big firms planning AI-driven job losses in 2026, without policy intervention this polarisation will accelerate.”
Labour market under the cosh
Michelle Lawson, Director at Fareham-based Lawson Financial, said the number of homes with a non-working adult are worrying.
She added: “These stats depend on how they have been measured as there could be mums included where childcare costs have risen so high that work is unviable. A significant number of our youth are struggling to find work and those that do are very disposable rather than being invested in as the future.
“The labour market is under the cosh with the relentless burdens and tax rises which will halt employment. Those that would otherwise be in part time work while studying will be out of the workforce as hospitality has been pushed out and minimum wage going through the roof.”
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
