About the claimant count
The claimant count dataset is a monthly estimate from the Office for National Statistics of people claiming benefits because they are seeking work. It gives indications of local levels of unemployment that are more timely than the official unemployment rate and has data for smaller areas. It is described as an experimental dataset as the methodology is evolving.
Rules about who can claim these benefits can change and comparisons of rates over time should take such changes unto account. Some claimants are not unemployed but are low paid workers required to seek a new job to be eligible for the benefit. Not everyone who stops claiming these benefits moves into employment, some people become economically inactive and are no longer eligible.
At present, this report is only updated each quarter, on the dates when the regional labour market releases include updates of the headline combined and local authority area labour market rates (usually in January, April, July and October).