Some 3.6million Brits are getting benefits with no obligation to seek work after an extraordinary surge since Covid.
Nearly half of all the 7.9million people on Universal Credit have 'no work requirement', compared to fewer than 700,000 in January 2020.
Meanwhile, numbers classed as searching for employment while they get handouts have slumped to 1.6million. That is despite UC claims swelling by 1.1million over the year to June.
The grim figures underline the scale of sickness issues blighting the UK economy, with ministers struggling to get a grip on spiralling spending.
Keir Starmer was forced to gut a £5billion package of reforms earlier this month after a massive revolt by Labour MPs.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said UC claims with 'no work requirements' overtook 'searching for work' as the largest conditionality regime in April 2022.
It said the increase was down to people making new claims as well as moving across from the old Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).
The government has pledged to scrap work capability assessments for UC by 2028 in a bid to toughen the rules, but not said what will replace them.
For the first time the government released a breakdown yesterday of how many immigrants are getting the benefit.
The data showed that 1.2million UC claimants had EU settled status, were refugees, arrived under a humanitarian route or had limited or indefinite leave to remain as of June.
That was up from 1.1 million a year earlier.
The majority of migrants being paid UC are not in work - a situation campaigners described as 'unsustainable'.
Some 83.6 per cent of those on the benefit were British, Irish, or live or work in the UK without any immigration restrictions.
The Tories said they have a 'clear, common-sense position' that UC 'should be reserved for UK citizens only'.
The Government said it had 'inherited a broken welfare system and spiralling, unsustainable benefits bill' and was working on reforms including tightening rules on who can claim.
The Prime Minister's spokesman said yesterday they will double the amount of time it takes to apply for settled status from five years to 10, limiting eligibility for the benefit.
Asked whether Sir Keir wants to see the number of foreign nationals claiming benefits while unemployed reduced, his official spokesman said: 'Absolutely, we both want to see the overall numbers of immigration reduced and we've set out plans for that through the Immigration White Paper.
'Within that, we also want to see people making a contribution to the UK, and that's why in the White Paper we set out that we will be doubling the amount of time it takes to apply for settled status.
'That actually means that typically you can only access universal credit after you've lived here currently for five years, and we're doubling that to a starting point of 10 years, so that will obviously reduce those numbers.'
The DWP said it had published the breakdown of immigration status 'following a public commitment to investigate and develop breakdowns of the UC caseload by the immigration status of foreign nationals in receipt of UC'.
People can access UC only if they have an immigration status that provides recourse to public funds.
Those with no recourse to public funds (NRPF) cannot claim most benefits, tax credits or housing assistance that are paid by the state.
Asylum seekers do not have access to UC as they have NRPF but those granted refugee status - deemed to have been forced to flee their country because of a well-founded fear of persecution, war or violence - can claim the benefit.
While refugees on UC had the lowest rate of employment at 22%, the department said those who have only recently been granted refugee status cannot be in employment at that point as asylum seekers are not permitted to work.