Overview

• July’s claimant count totals 1.71 million people, down 6,200 from June and 71,500 from July 2024, with a 4.0% claimant rate versus 4.2% when Labour took office.
• Claimant numbers remain materially above pre-pandemic levels, with about 465,500 more people on unemployment-related benefits than in March 2020.
• London recorded 364,150 claimants in July, up 9,885 year on year (2.8%), including a 16.7% rise in Putney to 3,835, while Brent East’s rate was the capital’s highest at 9.8%.
• Surrey saw mixed but generally rising counts over the past year, led by East Surrey up 8.8% to 1,610, as Spelthorne posted the county’s highest rate at 3.6%.
• Cambridgeshire bucked the trend with 18,290 claimants, down 5% year on year, including an 11.7% fall in Peterborough, even as the ILO-defined unemployment rate remains at 4.7%.