East Suffolk claimant count: 3,940 in June, 2.8% vs UK 3.9%

3,940 people across East Suffolk were claiming unemployment-related benefits in June, according to the Office for National Statistics claimant count, the third monthly fall in a row from a March peak of 4,160. That is 2.8 per cent of residents aged 16 to 64, below the East of England average of 3.3 per cent and well under the Great Britain rate of 3.9 per cent. (ONS claimant count, published via Nomis)

The claimant count records people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance plus those on Universal Credit who are required to look for work. It is not the full unemployment measure, but it is the only jobs figure published every month at district level, which makes it the best regular signal of how the local labour market is moving. One caveat for readers here: the figure covers the whole of East Suffolk, which stretches from Woodbridge, Felixstowe, Leiston and Saxmundham up to Lowestoft and Beccles in the district’s northern half, so it blends the coast this site covers with the district’s largest town. The ONS rounds each figure to the nearest five.

A winter climb that is unwinding

The monthly figures from June 2025 to June 2026 run 3,770; 3,730; 3,730; 3,695; 3,810; 3,890; 3,930; 3,965; 4,140; 4,160; 4,095; 3,990; 3,940. The count drifted down to the year’s low of 3,695 in September, then climbed every month through the winter to peak at 4,160 in March, when the rate touched 3.0 per cent. It has fallen in each of the three months since, and June’s 3,940 is 220 below that peak, though still 170 higher than in June last year, when the rate was 2.7 per cent. (Nomis, claimant count for East Suffolk, retrieved 12 August 2026)

The age pattern is moving against the headline. Claimants aged 16 to 24 rose from 775 in June 2025 to 885 in June 2026, an increase of 110, and those aged 50 and over rose from 960 to 1,005. The 25 to 49 group, the largest, was broadly flat at 2,050 against 2,035 a year earlier. So almost all of the year’s increase sits at the two ends of working life, and more than one claimant in five is now under 25. Men make up 2,215 of June’s claimants and women 1,725.

Even so, East Suffolk remains an easier place to be looking for work than most of the country. At 2.8 per cent, about one working-age resident in 36 here is claiming, against one in 30 across the East of England and one in 26 across Great Britain on the same measure.

What it means for you

The falling count suggests the winter’s slack is being taken up, but the rise among under-25s means school and college leavers on the coast are finding it slower going than the headline rate implies. If you have lost work or your hours have been cut, the main route into support is Universal Credit, claimed online, and low-income households can also apply for Council Tax Reduction, which cuts the bill rather than paying cash.

A steady jobs market is part of what keeps homes selling; our Woodbridge house prices page tracks what properties along the coast actually sell for. The July figures are due from the ONS later this month, and we will report them when they appear on Nomis.