Big surge in unemployment benefit claims in Nottinghamshire

Nearly 15,000 more Nottinghamshire residents are claiming unemployment benefits compared to two months ago, new figures reveal.
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The Labour Party and charities are calling for more support to stop people being pulled into poverty by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows 27,445 people were claiming out-of-work benefits in Nottinghamshire as of May 14, compared to just 13,035 in early March.

It means the share of the population signing on rose from 2.6 per cent to 5.5 per cent.

Unemployment benefit claims have risen sharply in NottinghamshireUnemployment benefit claims have risen sharply in Nottinghamshire
Unemployment benefit claims have risen sharply in Nottinghamshire

But Nottinghamshire's claimant rate was still slightly lower than the 5.8 per cent across the East Midlands as a whole.

Across the UK, the claimant count more stood at 2.8 million for the whole of May – the highest since 1993.

Anneliese Dodds MP, the shadow chancellor is calling for an urgent ‘back to work budget’ to support jobs through the economic crisis brought about by the coronavirus.

She said: “The Government was too slow to recognise the scale of the health crisis from coronavirus and we are already paying the economic price.

“The window is closing to protect existing jobs and encourage firms to invest in creating new ones."

Chancellor Rishi Sunak MP said the priority was to drive the recovery by getting businesses open and people back to work.

He added: "We set out an ambitious agenda in the budget about investing in our regions and making sure we drive growth and productivity through infrastructure investment.”