Claimant count — Bristol, City of

12,600, latest July 2026 (+2.1% year on year, from 12,345).

The count stood at 12,600 in July 2026. That is 2.1% higher than a year earlier. The series peaked at 27,070 in August 1993; the latest figure is 53.5% below that peak. Its low point was 4,625 in December 2007; the latest reading is 172% above that.

This is the claimant count: people claiming Universal Credit while required to look for work, or Jobseeker's Allowance. It is not the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate comes from the ONS Labour Force Survey and counts everyone without a job who is looking for one, whether or not they claim a benefit.

What these terms mean

Claimant count

The number of people claiming Universal Credit while required to look for work, or claiming Jobseeker's Allowance. It is not the unemployment rate: it includes some people working part-time and excludes unemployed people who don't claim. Source

Local authority district

The council area a statistic is published for -- 361 across the UK. In England these are boroughs, districts and unitary authorities; in Scotland, council areas; in Wales, principal areas; in Northern Ireland, districts.

Before you use these figures

• Not a measure of unemployment: The claimant count is a count of people claiming Universal Credit (who are required to seek work) or Jobseeker's Allowance, not a count of unemployed people. It includes some people in part-time work and excludes people who are unemployed but not claiming. ONS's Labour Force Survey is the measure of unemployment, and is a different figure.
• Four nations, one series: Universal Credit and Jobseeker's Allowance operate UK-wide, so this series is directly comparable across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland -- unlike some UK statistics that are only published for some nations.
• Latest figure: July 2026 — 3 months old: This dataset is published monthly and the publisher hasn't released anything newer. Nothing is missing from this page.
• Not adjusted for population: This figure — 12,600 — is well outside the typical range for other areas currently publishing this dataset (median about 2,700 across 360 other areas). This is a raw count, not adjusted for population — a larger area is expected to report a larger number regardless of anything unusual happening there. Not itself a sign of a data problem.
• Not adjusted for population, September 1991: This area's September 1991 figure was 23,450, well outside the typical range for other areas that reported for September 1991 (median about 4,175 across 349 other areas). This figure is a raw count, not adjusted for population — a larger area is expected to report a larger number regardless of anything unusual happening there. Not itself a sign of a data problem.

Cite this figure:

Claimant count — Bristol, City of
12,600 for Bristol, City of, July 2026
Caveats: Not a measure of unemployment; Four nations, one series; Latest figure: July 2026 — 3 months old; Not adjusted for population; Not adjusted for population, September 1991
StatsMapped last confirmed this figure unchanged on 5 Sep 2026.
Source: Office for National Statistics, Claimant Count (via Nomis)
https://statsmapped.com/united-kingdom/local-authority/bristol-city-of/claimant-count

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