Having 300,000 ‘forgotten’ unemployed people shames a government that isn’t working for anyone.

A report published by the Resolution Foundation two days into the new year shows that 300,000 people who are unemployed or on low wages are missing out on benefits worth £73 a week each.

They are mostly older people, particularly women aged 55-64 and young males. Whilst most are out of work a significant minority have so few hours paid work they are still entitled to support. As the ‘gig economy’ continues to grow this latter situation is going to become ever more common.

David Finch, Senior Economic Analyst for the Resolution Foundation said, ‘over the past twenty years, a growing number of unemployed people are not claiming unemployment benefits.’

This is something successive governments have been relaxed about since the 1990’s, there are, of course, a variety of reasons why people don’t claim the benefits they’re entitled to. Sometimes they have support from a partner or family member, the general assumption on the part of government though is, as David Finch points out, that it is ‘largely due to people finding new work quickly’.

There is though another and more problematic interpretation, namely that a benefits system that has become progressively more antagonistic towards claimants puts people off from applying.

A spokesperson for the DWP quoted on the Welfare Weekly website said ‘anyone who believes they’re entitled to out of work benefits should contact Job Centre Plus', adding that ‘our dedicated advisors are on hand to help people claim what they are entitled to'.

These words ring hollow in the face of accounts of Kafkaesque struggles to claim Universal Credit and those who are successful being left without any income for months before their first payment arrives.

People who study crime often talk about the ‘dark figure', the real crime rate that exists in the shadows behind the official statistics. It is almost always higher due to a complex set of reasons why people might not report being a victim of crime.

There are reasonable grounds for thinking something similar might exist in relation to people who claim, or in this case don’t claim, unemployment benefits. Even the 300,000 suggested by the Resolution Foundation seems conservative.

Since 2010 the process of claiming benefits has been made ever more difficult and negative media representations make doing so unattractive. This has created a situation where people with legitimate needs are sinking into poverty because they feat being labelled as ‘scroungers’.

A small, in governmental terms, cash saving has been achieved at incalculable cost in human misery. As the lines at the food banks grow, the one sold by Teresa May when she took office in 2016 that she wanted to lead a Britain that works for everyone look noticeably threadbare.