Overview
- Government data show a year-on-year increase of 1.1 million claimants to 8.3 million in October, the largest annual rise since early in the pandemic.
- About 4.0 million people were in the ‘no work requirements’ group in October, accounting for 48.7% of all claimants, up from 2.9 million a year earlier.
- The total caseload rose by 159,654 from September to October, the biggest monthly increase since June 2020.
- Numbers in the searching-for-work category (1.6 million) and in-work claimants (2.2 million) were unchanged from a year earlier, indicating the rise is concentrated elsewhere.
- The DWP cites transfers from legacy benefits and publishes an immigration-status breakdown showing 84.3% of claimants are British/Irish or have no restrictions, as ministers press employment reforms including Get Britain Working, Connect to Work and a Youth Guarantee.