The new experimental Claimant Count includes Jobseeker’s Allowance Claimants and those Universal Credit claimants who were claiming principally for the reason of being unemployed.
Users should note that revisions are to be expected while the Claimant Count series is experimental and improvements are being made to the process. The experimental Claimant Count series is subject to three types of revisions: 1) Monthly revisions due to updated information 2) Monthly revision to seasonally adjusted data 3) Annual revisions to seasonally adjusted data More information available here.
UK Claimant Count data is available for comparison via NOMIS. Nomis is a service provided by the Office for National Statistics, ONS, to give you free access to the most detailed and up-to-date UK labour market statistics from official sources: nomis website
Alternative Claimant Count statistics
The Alternative Claimant Count measures the number of people claiming unemployment related benefits. Before 2013 this was simply the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance. However, since the introduction of Universal Credit from April 2013, the Claimant Count is measured as the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance and the number of Universal Credit claimants placed in the 'Searching for Work' conditionality group.
Under Universal Credit a broader span of claimants are required to look for work than under Jobseeker's Allowance. These new Alternative Claimant Count statistics. measure the number of people claiming unemployment related benefits, by modelling what the count would have been if Universal Credit had been fully rolled out since 2013. The Alternative Claimant Count statistics are available from the Department for Work and Pensions
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