Nearly nine million people who are struggling to find work are at risk of being left out of the labour market because of a ‘complex patchwork’ of disconnected job schemes, council chiefs have warned.

There are at least 51 initiatives in England designed to support people back to work, but they are not joined up and few of them address economic inactivity, according to a report commissioned by the Local Government Association (LGA).

The number of people who are not in employment, who are not looking for a job or who are not able to start work has reached a record high of 8.7 million in the UK.

The report, written by Shared Intelligence, recommends giving local government a leading role in helping people back to work in their areas with long-term, simplified funding.

It also recommends that eligibility for existing programmes should be broadened out to better reach people that are economically inactive and support be linked to other frontline services such as public health and housing.

Cllr Martin Tett, chairman of the LGA’s People and Places Board, said: ‘Economic inactivity does not have a quick fix and short-term, limited schemes will not be enough to get millions of people back into work.

‘Councils know their communities best and can use their unique coordinating role to tackle this fundamental national issue and its underlying causes.

‘Given the right powers and funding, local government can do so much more to unlock the labour market, join up support and boost economic growth.’