Suffrago UK Data Hub
RankingsVerificationMethods

Independent service run by Suffrago – not an official government website. Every figure comes from an official UK publisher under its open licence and is checked against that source each time the data is refreshed.

Claimant count

People claiming benefits principally for the reason of being unemployed (Jobseeker's Allowance and Universal Credit claimants required to seek work), UK, thousands, seasonally adjusted.

Claimant count

1,701,000

Sep 2026

Verified against source, 29 October 2026, 11:57 UTC
Claimant count
0k1,000k2,000k3,000kOct 16Jun 18Feb 20Oct 21Jun 23Feb 25Sep 261,701k

Source: Office for National Statistics. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Data table

120 periods, newest first

PeriodClaimant count
Sep 20261,701,000
Aug 20261,670,700
Jul 20261,663,700
Jun 20261,675,500
May 20261,681,900
Apr 20261,680,600
Mar 20261,672,400
Feb 20261,667,400
Jan 20261,650,300
Dec 20251,650,400
Nov 20251,652,900
Oct 20251,657,000
Sep 20251,658,700
Aug 20251,662,400
Jul 20251,667,900
Jun 20251,694,400
May 20251,699,400
Apr 20251,702,100
Mar 20251,713,600
Feb 20251,714,900
Jan 20251,714,600
Dec 20241,724,300
Nov 20241,742,800
Oct 20241,764,000
Sep 20241,772,500
Aug 20241,771,300
Jul 20241,776,300
Jun 20241,638,600
May 20241,612,600
Apr 20241,584,200
Mar 20241,578,400
Feb 20241,562,900
Jan 20241,566,400
Dec 20231,563,200
Nov 20231,551,100
Oct 20231,539,000
Sep 20231,531,700
Aug 20231,530,900
Jul 20231,545,600
Jun 20231,536,800
May 20231,532,500
Apr 20231,567,300
Mar 20231,523,900
Feb 20231,494,800
Jan 20231,517,500
Dec 20221,536,600
Nov 20221,522,400
Oct 20221,509,900
Sep 20221,520,900
Aug 20221,521,200
Jul 20221,525,000
Jun 20221,554,100
May 20221,576,800
Apr 20221,596,700
Mar 20221,674,000
Feb 20221,743,500
Jan 20221,797,300
Dec 20211,840,300
Nov 20211,909,500
Oct 20211,985,900
Sep 20212,053,400
Aug 20212,146,800
Jul 20212,232,800
Jun 20212,279,800
May 20212,451,600
Apr 20212,598,100
Mar 20212,632,900
Feb 20212,650,400
Jan 20212,572,700
Dec 20202,622,000
Nov 20202,639,500
Oct 20202,597,800
Sep 20202,681,100
Aug 20202,698,600
Jul 20202,652,400
Jun 20202,592,000
May 20202,657,200
Apr 20202,090,300
Mar 20201,229,900
Feb 20201,227,500
Jan 20201,229,200
Dec 20191,240,300
Nov 20191,232,400
Oct 20191,211,400
Sep 20191,183,400
Aug 20191,163,500
Jul 20191,143,200
Jun 20191,126,600
May 20191,097,000
Apr 20191,079,500
Mar 20191,059,400
Feb 20191,039,700
Jan 20191,019,100
Dec 20181,000,500
Nov 2018973,300
Oct 2018951,100
Sep 2018926,400
Aug 2018904,100
Jul 2018892,200
Jun 2018881,400
May 2018880,100
Apr 2018866,200
Mar 2018854,600
Feb 2018842,800
Jan 2018832,900
Dec 2017824,000
Nov 2017811,500
Oct 2017804,100
Sep 2017800,500
Aug 2017797,700
Jul 2017797,300
Jun 2017797,000
May 2017795,200
Apr 2017791,700
Mar 2017782,800
Feb 2017768,300
Jan 2017772,300
Dec 2016780,500
Nov 2016787,200
Oct 2016783,000

Download CSVDownload JSON with full provenance

Source and licence

Publisher
Office for National Statistics
Check it yourself
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peoplenotinwork/outofworkbenefits/timeseries/bcjd/unem
Licence
Open Government Licence v3.0 – Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Retrieved
29 October 2026, 11:48 UTC
Publisher release
2026-10-19T23:00:00.000Z; next release 17 November 2026
Series as published
Claimant Count : K02000001 UK : People : SA : Thousands (BCJD, dataset UNEM)
Raw files fetched

Verification

Verified against source, 29 October 2026, 11:57 UTC Run at 29 October 2026, 11:57 UTC; 120 of 120 figures matched the live source.

ResultCheckDetail
PassProvenance recordedOffice for National Statistics; Open Government Licence v3.0; retrieved 2026-10-29T11:48:08Z; 1 raw file(s)
PassRaw files match recorded SHA-2561 of 1 files intact
PassRe-parsing raw files reproduces figures120 of 120 figures and the headline reproduced
PassFigures are finite numbers120 figures, 0 invalid
PassLive source matches every figure120 of 120 figures match exactly after downloading 1 source file(s) again (1 byte-identical); the headline matches
PassONS CSV download agrees120 of 120 figures match the CSV at https://www.ons.gov.uk/generator?format=csv&uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peoplenotinwork/outofworkbenefits/timeseries/bcjd/unem
PassONS series is currentlast released 2026-10-19, 9 days before retrieval (limit 400); next release 17 November 2026
PassSource page answershttps://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peoplenotinwork/outofworkbenefits/timeseries/bcjd/unem – HTTP 200