1. Main points
- The proportion of workless households increased in 53% of local areas of Great Britain between 2024 and 2025, compared with 47% where it decreased.
- Inverclyde, Rhondda Cynon Taf and South Tyneside appeared in the 10 areas with the highest percentage of workless households in both 2024 and 2025.
- Wokingham, Reading, South Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Trafford appeared in the 10 areas with the lowest percentage of workless households in both 2024 and 2025.
Labour market statistics based on both the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and the Annual Population Survey (APS) are considered official statistics in development. Read more in Section 3: Data sources and quality.
2. Data on workless households for the regions across the UK
A1 LA: Households by combined economic activity status of household members by local authority
Dataset | Released on 29 July 2026
Numbers and percentages of working, mixed and workless households for local authorities, annual.
D: Reasons given by people living in workless households for not working by country and region
Dataset | Released on 29 July 2026
Percentages of types of economic inactivity and unemployment in workless households by UK country and English region, annual.
E: Rankings of percentages of workless households for counties and unitary authority areas in Great Britain
Dataset | Released on 29 July 2026
Rankings of the percentage of workless households for upper tier local authorities in Great Britain, annual.
F: Rankings of measures of household economic activity for counties and unitary authority areas in Great Britain
Dataset | Released on 29 July 2026
Rankings of the percentages of workless, working and mixed households for upper tier local authorities in Great Britain.
3. Data sources and quality
Annual Population Survey Household (APSH) datasets are used for all analyses of family or household characteristics. For all analyses in this bulletin, a household is defined as containing at least one person aged 16 to 64 years. This bulletin focuses on the economic status of household members. For example:
- the number of working households, where all adults are in employment
- the number of mixed households, where some adults are in employment, and some are not in employment
- the number of workless households, where no adults are in employment
The Annual Population Survey (APS) and APSH datasets have not been reweighted to the new populations. Consequently, all APSH tables remain weighted to the previous 2021 population totals, which will be inconsistent with those used for our Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates in the latest periods.
For a comparison of our labour market data sources and the main differences, see our Comparison of labour market data sources methodology.
Official statistics in development
Our LFS and APS estimates are currently not considered accredited official statistics and are designated as "official statistics in development". Until September 2023, these were called "experimental statistics". Read more about the change in our Guide to official statistics in development.
More information in relation to the APS being classified as "official statistics in development" can be found in our Office for National Statistics letter to the Office for Statistics Regulation about the APS: 9 October 2024.
Back to table of contents5. Cite this statistical bulletin
Office for National Statistics (ONS), published 29 July 2026, ONS website, statistical bulletin, Workless households for regions across the UK: 2025