Out of a job and on benefits: Why Britain isn't working

Winter is closing in on the Bidston Rise housing estate in Birkenhead, but there's one front garden that hasn't given in yet.

A hydrangea is thriving in a shady spot and the borders are still in bloom. The man inside can give his neighbours advice on everything from ericaceous compost and fertiliser but he can't earn a living from it.

Mick is a landscape gardener by trade but has been unemployed for almost a decade now because of his health, which deteriorated rapidly after a heart attack in his 30s. Money blog: Latest updates A few years later, an operation to remove a clot in his right leg resulted in an amputation.

In 2016, he also lost his left leg to vascular disease. Now in his 60s, he still wants to work but the opportunities available to him are slim.

Still, he counts himself lucky. "I know I'm getting on a bit now.

I've lost my legs, but I can still do certain amounts of stuff. "There are people out there who struggle to get out of bed in the morning, but they're having their benefits cut because they're saying they are fit for work.

It's ridiculous." It comes as the unemployment rate ticked up to 5.1% in October, from 5% in September. Statistics met with 'surprise and disbelief' Mick is among the 10.4 million people of working age who report a disability in Britain today - that's around a quarter of all 16-64 year olds.

It is a statistic that has been met with both surprise and disbelief as policymakers grapple for explanations behind the nation's declining health, which is apparently so bad that 2.8 million people have dropped out of the labour market altogether, meaning they have stopped looking for work. In Westminster, alarm has slowly crept in as the government struggles to digest the bill: Disabled people are entitled to benefits that support them with the costs of their disability.

They are also less likely to be in work than the rest of the population. The natural consequence is that Britain's benefits bill has ballooned.

One-in-10 people now claim either incapacity or disability benefits. At £76.8bn, about 6% of everything the government spends now goes on these benefits and the costs are only forecast to rise.

Mental ill health So what is actually going on? There are no clear-cut answers but a few theories have been put forward: Some say the pandemic has had a clear long-term impact on our health, particularly our mental health. The workforce is also getting older, so more of us are living with chronic conditions.

Then there's the cost of living crisis, which might have pushed more people to claim benefits when they may not have needed to in the past. In the absence of any concrete explanations, however, the data has also fostered suspicions.

Some people believe the system is too soft and that "everyday woes" are being medicalised. Those "everyday woes" are mental health conditions, like depression and anxiety, which are driving the increase in reported disability.

The vast majority- 86% - of people on health-related benefits now have a mental health condition, even if it is not their primary condition. After a failed attempt to reform disability benefits, the government has ordered a review into the diagnosis of mental health conditions, as well as autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The health secretary has spoken about "overdiagnosis". Meanwhile, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has proposed a "crackdown on people exploiting the system.