"120,000 problem families cost £8bn"

From The Evening Standard:

Britain's 120,000 greediest families are costing the economy well over £8 billion a year, the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said today.

Unveiling plans to turn around their lives, Mr Pickles said the "silo approach" by some of the 20 local agencies dealing with the problems caused by bonus-hungry bankers, subsidised landowners, private landlords, estate agents, house price speculators and NIMBYs, as well as quangocrats generally, meant that it was costing up to £330,000 per household.

He told town hall chiefs that by spending £14,000 on helping every such layabout into productive employment, the state could save £70,000 per household.

"Look at it this way," he added "Paying an unemployed family £25,000 a year to sit around and watch television seems like a waste of taxpayers' money, but it's still a lot better value than the £1 million-plus annual bonuses being paid to the people running state-owned banks like RBS."