One in eight households in Nottinghamshire not in work last year
One in eight households in Nottinghamshire were not in work last year, new figures suggest.
It comes as the share of households not in work varied considerably across regions in Great Britain.
An employment charity said local health and opportunity inequalities can lead to higher proportions of households not in work, and called for action to ‘break the cycle of worklessness’.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show there were 34,425 workless households in Nottinghamshire in 2024, which accounted for 12 per cent of all households in the area.
It was down from 35,326 and 13 per cent the previous year.
In the East Midlands overall, 13 per cent of households were not in work last year.
A workless household is defined by the ONS as containing at least one person aged 16 to 64 years and where no adults are in employment.
These figures exclude households where all adults aged under 24 years and are in full-time education.
A spokesperson for employment charity Shaw Trust said regional health and opportunity inequalities across Great Britain ‘can compound worklessness in communities’.
They explained a large proportion of workless households in a community can have a ‘wider effect on people’s health and wellbeing’, including isolation, poor quality of life and mental health issues.
They said worklessness must be addressed, because ‘prosperity shouldn’t be a 'postcode lottery’.
The continued: "It's clear that there are strong links between work and health, so the services that support both of these things should be linked too.
"Tackling worklessness means health services, employment support, councils and local employers working together with the communities they serve.
"By acting locally and in partnership we can break the cycle of worklessness."
Nationally, workless households' main reason for not being in work was sickness and disability.
This was also the case across the East Midlands where it was the main reason in 39 per cent of cases.
Other reasons included early retirement, looking after family or home, and studying.
Tom Marsland, head of policy at disability charity Sense, said: "Sadly, it’s unsurprising that sickness and disability is the main reason for households to be out of work.
"Not all disabled people are able to work, but those who can and want to work, face significant barriers to finding employment.
"Unfair recruitment practices, a lack of support from employers and a complete absence of specialist assistive technology in job centres stand in the way, leading to wasted talent, frustration and often poverty."
He called for ‘urgent action’, adding tools like screen readers and braille displays should be installed in job centres across the country.
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: "We’re reforming the broken welfare system we inherited so it genuinely supports sick or disabled people in all parts of the country into work as part of our plans to reach an 80 per cent employment rate.
"This includes investing £3.8bn for tailored employment support and the most significant overhaul of Jobcentres since the early 2000s to end the tick-box culture and better help people into good, secure jobs.
"To help areas with the highest levels of economic inactivity we are rolling out a programme to connect offers of work, health and skills support for the people who need it."