Under-25s are more than half the annual rise in Cheshire East's claimant count, and their number is the highest since 2021. The August total reached 6,015.

The number of Cheshire East residents aged 16 to 24 claiming benefits because they are out of work rose by a quarter in the year to August 2026, from 1,040 to 1,305. It is the highest figure for that age group since August 2021, when the furlough scheme was still winding down.

The borough total was 6,015 in August, 2.4% of residents aged 16 to 64. That is up 155 on July and up 510 on August 2025, and it is the highest monthly total since September 2024. The figures were published by the Office for National Statistics on 15 September through nomis.

Under-25s are about a fifth of all claimants in the borough. They account for more than half of the annual increase: 265 of the 510 extra claimants are aged 16 to 24.

Line chart of 16 to 24 year old claimants in Cheshire East from August 2021 to August 2026, falling from 1,380 to 880 in June 2022, flat near 1,000 until 2025, then rising to 1,305 in August 2026

Where the rise is

All three age bands grew over the year, but not at the same speed.

Age Aug 2025 Aug 2026 Change
16 to 24 1,040 1,305 +265 (+25.5%)
25 to 49 3,150 3,260 +110 (+3.5%)
50 and over 1,315 1,450 +135 (+10.3%)

The month-on-month pattern points the same way. Of the 155 added between July and August, 90 were under 25.

The split by sex is steadier. Male claimants rose from 3,120 to 3,400 over the year, female claimants from 2,385 to 2,615.

A caution on the age bands: the ONS does not publish a claimant rate for individual age groups, only for all 16 to 64 year olds, so the figures above are counts rather than proportions of the local population in that age band. All local claimant figures are rounded to the nearest five.

Cheshire East against its neighbours

At 2.4%, Cheshire East has the third lowest claimant rate of the 35 local authorities in the North West. Only Westmorland and Furness and Ribble Valley are lower, both on 1.8%.

  • North West average: 4.2%
  • England: 4.0%
  • United Kingdom: 3.9%
  • Cheshire West and Chester: 2.6%, Warrington: 2.7%, Stockport: 3.0%, Trafford: 3.0%

Over the county boundary the rates are similar to ours: High Peak, on the other side of the Cat and Fiddle, is 2.5%, and Staffordshire Moorlands, which includes Leek, is 2.2%, slightly lower than Cheshire East.

The contrast within the region is wide. Oldham is on 6.5%, Manchester and Rochdale on 6.0%, Blackpool on 5.8% and Liverpool on 5.5%.

What the number is, and what it is not

This is the claimant count, and it is not the unemployment rate. The ONS is explicit about the difference in its quality and methodology report: the count “does not attempt to measure unemployment, which is a concept defined by the International Labour Organisation”, and instead measures “the number of people claiming benefits principally for the reason of being unemployed, based on administrative data from the benefits system”.

Two consequences follow, and both cut against reading it as a simple jobless total.

  • It includes people who are working. Universal Credit claimants on low earnings can still be required to look for more work, and they are counted here.
  • It excludes people who are out of work but not claiming, or not required to seek work.

The series is also classed by the ONS as experimental official statistics, because coverage has shifted as Universal Credit replaced Jobseeker’s Allowance. And the most recent month is the one most likely to move: the Universal Credit element “allows for revisions to the data for one previous month”, so August’s 6,015 may be restated when the September figures are published.

What it means for you

The next release is due in October, and it will carry the revision to August as well as the September count. We will report both.

If you are under 25 and out of work in the borough, the routes that do not depend on a Jobcentre appointment are worth knowing:

  • The national Find a job service lists vacancies by postcode, and apprenticeship vacancies are searchable the same way.
  • The National Careers Service gives free advice from an adviser, by phone or webchat, whatever stage you are at.
  • If you are already claiming, changes in earnings have to be reported through your Universal Credit account rather than by phone.

Worth knowing what the council does and does not offer here. Cheshire East’s jobs and careers pages list vacancies at the council itself, and its apprenticeships page is written for employers thinking of taking someone on, not for young people looking for a place. That page has not been reviewed since 5 October 2023.

We publish local jobs on our Macclesfield jobs page, and our house prices page tracks the other half of the household picture.

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