UNEMPLOYMENT in the district has risen by more than 10 per cent in the last year, according to the latest Government figures.

The new statistics, known as the alternative claimant count, have been calculated by the Department for Work and Pensions.

They have been drawn up to more accurately show the number of people claiming unemployment benefits following the roll-out of Universal Credit.

In Bradford there were 16,571 people claiming unemployment-related benefits in the latest quarterly figures for August.

This compares to 14,976 a year ago, an increase of 10.7 per cent. This is also a rise of 1.9 per cent on the data released in May, which saw a total of 16,268 claiming the benefit across the district.

These figures compare to a year-on-year rise of 1.1 per cent in Yorkshire and Humber and a 6.4 per cent rise in England.

The change compared to May’s data shows a 0.7 per cent fall in the region, compared to a 1.3 per cent rise nationally.

Across the five constituencies that cover the Bradford district there has been a rise in three of the areas on the quarter.

In Keighley and Shipley, the number of claimants fell from May by 4.3 per cent and 3.3 per cent respectively. This saw a total of 1,845 people claim in Keighley in August and 1,371 in Shipley.

Elsewhere, Bradford South saw the largest rise on the quarter at 4.1 per cent. This brought the number of claimants to 3,364 people.

There was a 3.8 per cent rise in Bradford West over the same three month period to reach 5,182 claimants.

Bradford East saw the smallest rise at 2.4 per cent, meaning a total of 4,808 claimants in August.

Tracy Othen, partnership manager for the DWP in Bradford, said that the overall picture was generally positive although there had been a “small rise in numbers”.

She said of the work they were doing in the district to tackle unemployment: “We held a very successful Jobsfair in September with around 23 employers attending and a number of customers offered jobs on the day.

“We will be running a Youth Event in November for our younger customers to open the possibilities in the world of employment as well as planning future events to support all of our customers.

“We continue to work with local employers to help them employ a local work force.”

Universal Credit was first introduced in Bradford for new single claimants only in 2015. It was fully rolled out last year.

The DWP has said it fully expected to see higher numbers in the alternative claimant count on this time last year, because the statistics now fully factor in Universal Credit, which was replacing a range of different benefits.