New figures suggest benefits reforms and crackdowns by former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith (pictured) may finally be bearing fruit

The number of children in workless households has fallen to the lowest level on record in another sign of Britain's buoyant jobs market.

The Office for National Statistics reported that the number of children living in households where no one works decreased by 90,000 to 1.3 million over the past year.

It means 10.6 per cent of children live in workless households, the lowest level since comparable records began.

The official figures provide a timely boost for Theresa May ahead of next week's general election. The number of households where no-one works has also fallen by 80,000 over the past year.

There were 3.1 million so-called workless households in the quarter to March, down by 0.4 per cent on a year ago.

Growth in the share of working households has been driven partly by an increase in the proportion of single parents who are working. This has risen by 1.4 percentage points to 67.8 per cent in 2017.

The number of single parents in work has actually dropped from 1.3 million to 1.2 million over the last year. But this is simply because there are fewer single parents compared to last year, according to the ONS.

In January to March 2017, there were 1.2 million lone parents in employment in the UK. This compares with 1.3 million lone parents in employment in the same period last year.

The latest figures will be seen by some as evidence that benefit reforms introduced by former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith are starting to bear fruit.

This includes introducing benefits caps to encourage more people to move into work. But the proportion of workless households has been falling since comparable records began in 1996, now accounting for 14.9 per cent of the total.

This is partly because of social changes, with more women returning to work after having a baby. Last night one expert said the fall in workless households was further evidence of Britain's booming jobs market.

Motivation: Minister's reforms included new benefits caps to encourage more people to work

Figures published recently by the ONS showed unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level in 42 years. The number of people in work also hit a new record high after the biggest quarterly surge in jobs since last June's EU referendum.

In the last jobs figures before the general election, the ONS revealed there were 1.54 million unemployed people between January and March, 53,000 fewer than in the previous quarter and 152,000 fewer than in the same period last year.

This dragged the unemployment rate down from 4.7 per cent to 4.6 per cent – the lowest level since it started collecting the data in 1972.

The number of people in work also jumped by 122,000 over the three month period to a record 31.95 million.

This pushed the employment rate up from 74.6 per cent to 74.8 per cent – the highest since records began in 1971.

Stephen Clarke, Policy Analyst at prominent thinktank, the Resolution Foundation, said: 'It's encouraging to see another fall in the number for workless households across Britain, which has falling steadily now over the last two decades.

Successive governments have brought down worklessness. And so, although more can be done to reduce this further, ensuring that work pays should be a priority.'