September's claimant count of 1,685 is the district's highest since January 2022. Men account for 125 of the 135 extra claimants on a year ago.
The number of people claiming unemployment-related benefits in the Sevenoaks district rose to 1,685 in September. That is the highest monthly count since January 2022, when it stood at 1,705. (ONS, Claimant count by sex and age, Sevenoaks, via nomis)
The count is up 40 on August and up 135 on September 2025, a rise of about 8.7 per cent in a year. The Office for National Statistics published the figures this morning. (ONS, UK labour market: October 2026)
August was revised down
When we reported the August figures last month, the count stood at 1,675. The same series now puts August at 1,645, a downward revision of 30. July was revised down by the same amount a month earlier.
So September’s 1,685 is a new high on today’s figures, but it is provisional too. The ONS says revisions in recent months “have tended to be made downwards”. (ONS, UK labour market: October 2026)
The direction is clearer than any single month. Every month since February 2026 has been above 1,600. In the two years before that, the count never went above 1,590.
Nearly all of the rise is men
Comparing September 2026 with September 2025:
- Men: up from 770 to 895, a rise of 125
- Women: up from 780 to 790, a rise of 10
A year ago the two were level. Men’s claimant rate is now 2.6 per cent of 16 to 64 year olds, against 2.1 per cent for women. (ONS, Claimant count by sex and age, Sevenoaks, via nomis)
Young and older claimants up, the middle flat
By age, the year’s rise sits with the youngest and oldest claimants:
| Age | Sept 2025 | Sept 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 to 24 | 245 | 315 | +70 (about 29%) |
| of which 18 to 21 | 140 | 190 | +50 (about 36%) |
| 25 to 49 | 920 | 910 | -10 |
| 50 and over | 380 | 460 | +80 (about 21%) |
(ONS, Claimant count by sex and age, Sevenoaks, via nomis)
We said in August that summer school and college leavers would show up in the August and September counts. September fits that. The 18 to 24 count rose by 15 on the month and now stands at its highest in at least a year.
Still the lowest rate in Kent
As a share of residents aged 16 to 64, the district’s September rate was 2.4 per cent. That is the lowest of Kent’s twelve districts, just ahead of Tonbridge and Malling on 2.5 per cent.
Kent as a whole was on 3.4 per cent, the South East on 3.1 and the UK on 3.9. A year earlier those three stood at 3.2, 3.0 and 3.8, while the district was on 2.2. (ONS, Claimant count by sex and age, Kent districts, via nomis)
So the district rose 0.2 percentage points over the year. That is in step with Kent, and faster than the South East or the UK. Across the UK the count rose to an estimated 1.701 million. (ONS, UK labour market: October 2026)
What this figure is, and what it is not
The claimant count is not the unemployment rate. It counts people on Jobseeker’s Allowance, and Universal Credit claimants in the “searching for work” group. That includes some people who are working but on low hours or low pay. The ONS classes it as an official statistic in development. (ONS, UK labour market: October 2026)
District figures are rounded to the nearest five, so a move of five or ten in one age group can be noise.
What it means for you
If you are out of work, or claiming while looking for more hours, support runs through your Universal Credit account or the helpline on the GOV.UK Universal Credit pages. Vacancies are advertised free on Find a job, and our Sevenoaks jobs page lists where local employers post openings. Free careers advice, including for under-25s, comes from the National Careers Service.
You can check the figures yourself on nomis, where the series runs back to the 1990s by age and sex. The next update, with the October figures, is due on 17 November. (ONS, UK labour market: October 2026)
Our monthly Sevenoaks house prices reporting tracks the other side of the household budget, and our guide to Sevenoaks council tax bands sets out what each band costs this year.
Sources
- ONS, Claimant count by sex and age (UCJSA), via nomis, released 20 October 2026, covering September 2026: Sevenoaks district count, rate, age and sex breakdown, the revised August figure, the January 2022 comparison, and the Kent district, Kent, South East and UK rates
- ONS, UK labour market: October 2026, for the UK count, the note on downward revisions, the definition and the 17 November next release
- GOV.UK, Universal Credit
- GOV.UK, Find a job
- National Careers Service
Image: shops on Sevenoaks High Street, photo by Chris Whippet, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph. Charts by Sevenoaks Online.
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