City in Grip of Housing Benefits 'Explosion'

New figures show that Bradford is in the grip of a low pay crisis – with an explosion in the number of working people surviving on housing benefit. The number of claimants in the city who have jobs has leapt by 73 per cent since the last General Election, according to official statistics. Across the district, there are 28,513 people working, but on housing benefit, after similar leaps in Calderdale (up 56 per cent), Kirklees (58 per cent) and Leeds (89 per cent).  There has been growing criticism of the Government’s insistence that getting people off benefits and into work is, by itself, a route out of poverty.  Read more on the Bradford Argus & Telegraph website.