Posted on: 26 February 2024
The Office for National Statistics has released its latest monthly figures on people in the UK claiming unemployment-related benefits. The ONS measure includes “out of work Universal Credit claimants” and “Job Seeker’s Allowance claimants.”

For 16 to 64 year olds, the national average for claimants per local authority sits at 4,353 people. The latest figures reveal that, on average, 3.31% of a local authority’s 16 to 64 year olds are claiming Universal Credit or Job Seeker’s allowance.

Both of these metrics represent a slight increase on December’s figures.

In December, the average number of claimants per local authority sat at 4,316 people while 3.28% of 16 to 64 year olds claimed unemployment-related benefits.

As with December, Birmingham has the highest proportion of claimants against total population – with a figure of 8.7%.

The Isle of Scilly has the lowest rate at 1.8%. Both of these local authorities have had the proportion of claimants increase by 0.1% when compared to last month.

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This data was released by the ONS on 13th February 2024