Telegraph corrects Prime Minister's workless households claim

In a piece in the Telegraph last month the Prime Minister claimed that the number of workless households had doubled under Labour's 'boom' years.

As we explained at the time, this is not the case. The number of households where no member had ever worked almost doubled under Labour's time in office. Workless households fell in the period up to 2008.

The Telegraph has now published a correction to the article, although it incorrectly defines what a workless household is:

"When this article was first posted it stated that during the boom years the number of "workless households" doubled. While households where no adult had ever worked did double, the Office for National Statistics definition of "workless households" is those where all adults are unemployed or inactive; numbers of these households fell during the period. We are happy to make this clear and have amended the article accordingly."

Workless households aren't those where all adults are unemployed or inactive, according to the ONS's definition. Households that only contain inactive pensioners would count as workless under this definition, but they aren't included in the figures. Workless households have to contain at least one person of working age and for no one over 16 to be in employment.