YOU are better off on benefits – that’s the message from Oxford families weighing up whether to go out and get a job.

Statistics yesterday revealed the number of people out of work had reached its highest level in the UK since May 1997.

It came as politicians criticised the benefits system and pointed out that some people could earn more staying at home than going out to earn a living.

Hayley Dolton, from Chillingworth Crescent, in Wood Farm, said she would gladly clean toilets if she thought it would make life any better for her and her young son.

But the 22-year-old, who receives about £70 per week in benefits, including £40 of income support and £30 child tax credits for her two year old son, Eris, suggested it was not worth her while.

She said: “If I could go and get a job I would. But if I started work I would have to pay half my own rent, pay someone to look after my son and pay transport.

“Things are tough at the moment as it is. I do get a little bit extra, being on benefits, but it all goes on bills. By the time I’ve bought all Eris’s things, I’m left with about £10 a week for food for us both.”

Miss Dolton, who is exempt from paying council tax and has her£74 a week rent paid for by the council, added: “They tell people to go out and work, but what’s the point when it ends up costing you more? At the end of the day we would be no better off.”

Meanwhile, qualified nursery nurse Nikki Green, of Lake Street, in Oxford, also believes something is wrong with the system.

The mother-of-two said: “I left work, because you get more help with child tax credits than I could have earned in a week’s wages as a nursery nurse. It’s ridiculous, if you think about it.”

The thinktank the Centre for Social Justice, set up by former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith, suggested claimants taking a job paying less than £15,000 a year were worse off than if they remained out of work.

Sarah Meziu, an adviser at Donnington and Rose Hill Advice Centre, said many people who came to the centre were put off looking for work, because of the cost of renting a home in Oxford.

She said: “People feel it’s easier for them to be on benefits, because their rent and council tax is paid for them. It’s a vicious circle. They want to be working but they need a job which pays a decent amount to make it worthwhile coming off benefits.”

The Government’s Department for Work and Pensions has started a campaign to show people they are better off in work.

“As well as the financial gains that employment offers, work is generally good for the health and well-being of individuals and their families,” a DWP spokesman said.

“We need to help ensure people who develop health problems are able to remain in or quickly return to work, so that they don’t become long-term absent, lose their jobs and ultimately rely on benefits.

“Work is the best form of welfare and remaining in work gives people control over their life.”