An overhaul of Britain’s benefits system and schemes to get more people working were announced on Monday ahead of the Budget.
In a bid to bring down the country’s “ballooning” benefits bill, the Chancellor pledged welfare reforms designed to make sure “people who can work, do work”.
Rachel Reeves said some 800,000 Britons will be moved to Universal Credit from the old employment and support allowance from this autumn, instead of 2028, with the aim of getting them better access to support to find a job.
A £240million funding boost for local services to "get Britain working" will also be confirmed in the Budget.
Ms Reeves said: “Due to years of economic neglect, the benefits bill is ballooning.
“We will build a Britain where people who can work, will work, turning the page on the recent rise in economic inactivity and decline and towards a future where people have good jobs and our benefits bill is under control.”
The new Labour Government will seek to "tackle the root causes of economic inactivity" in first its financial statement on Wednesday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said.
The £240million of funding will partly go towards rolling out a scheme of “trailblazers” who will focus on reaching people not usually in touch with the system, according to the Treasury.
The plan to pull the employment rate up to 80 per cent is part of the Government's growth mission.
About 2.8 million people are out of work due to long-term sickness.
Economic inactivity has soared by 900,000 since before the pandemic in 2020, with 85 per cent of this due to those who are ill, according to a report from the BCG Centre for Growth and the NHS Confederation published in September.
Labour had previously promised reforms to help the "lockdown generation" get back into employment, and ministers are expected to publish a Get Britain Working White Paper this autumn.
Those reforms aim lay out an approach of high expectation and high support, with those who can work getting a job but being properly supported in doing so.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said: “Millions of people have been denied the opportunity to build a better life.
“This includes one-in-eight young people who have had their hopes of a brighter future dashed and written off before they’ve even begun.
“Through our Get Britain Working plan, we will ensure every young person is supported to find earnings or learning, while our new jobs and careers service will transform opportunity for all, as we deliver the fundamental reforms needed to tackle spiralling inactivity, grow the economy, and take our first steps to our ambitious 80 per cent employment rate.”
