Out of work benefits

Claimants of unemployment related benefits including Employment and Support Allowance and other incapacity benefits, and Income Support and Pension Credit.

Spotlight

Claimant Count : K02000001 UK : People : SA : Thousands

1,690.8

2026 JAN

Release date:
17 February 2026
Next release:
19 March 2026
View this data
More data

Labour market overview, UK: February 2026

What's in the bulletin?

  • Estimates for payrolled employees in the UK fell by 121,000 (0.4%) between December 2024 and December 2025, and decreased by 6,000 (0.0%) between November 2025 and December 2025. This is based administrative data from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
  • When looking at October to December 2025, the period comparable with our Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates, the number of payrolled employees fell by 130,000 (0.4%) over the year and by 46,000 (0.2%) over the quarter.
  • The early estimate of payrolled employees for January 2026 decreased by 134,000 (0.4%) on the year, and by 11,000 (0.0%) on the month, to 30.3 million. The January 2026 estimate should be treated as a provisional estimate and is likely to be revised when more data are received next month. Information on revisions to payrolled employees is published monthly. We have published analysis of recent revisions in our LFS quality update article.
Read this statistical bulletin
More publications
Back to top

Time series related to Out of work benefits

View all time series related to Out of work benefits Back to top

Datasets related to Out of work benefits

View all datasets related to Out of work benefits Back to top

Publications related to Out of work benefits

Statistical bulletins

View all related statistical bulletins
Back to top

Methodology related to Out of work benefits

View all related methodology

Explore local statistics

Find, compare and visualise statistics about places within the United Kingdom.