BIRKENHEAD is among the country's "welfare ghettos," a think-tank has claimed.

According to the Signed On, Written Off study by The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), the town is one of the worst affected with 55% of people aged 16-64 on out-of-work benefits.

It means those living there ranked fourth out of the top six neighbourhoods in England and Wales for the percentage of people claiming.

Council wards with higher rates were Wensley Fold in Blackburn, Brandwood in Birmingham and Rhyl West in Denbighshire.

But Wirral Council leader Cllr Phil Davies said there was still reason to be "optimistic" about Birkenhead’s future.

Councillor Davies, who is also councillor for Birkenhead and Tranmere, said: "It's an issue of concern but we are working very hard within the council to bring back and create jobs and investments.

"There are things to be optimistic about such as the extra jobs at the Contact Company and the Wirral Waters development on the horizon.

"However the situation [of more people being on benefits] has not been helped by the policies of central Government, particularly the austerity policy nationally and the council budget being cut.

"I'm concerned that we need to provide jobs so that these people can get off benefits but the other end of the argument is that we still need to make sure we have a good safety net for them."

Despite Wirral featuring one of the worst affected area for benefit claimants, Sefton was in fact listed as having the highest average welfare spending per head at £6,278.

The CSJ say that across the country, 6.8 million people are living in a home where no-one has a job, meaning almost a fifth of children are growing up in a workless household.

And charity Chance UK argue that some children do not understand what work is and when asked what their ambitions were, they said: "I want to be famous" or the "boss" of a gang.