The number of people claiming Universal Credit in Devon and Cornwall has surpassed 400,000 as the impact of the coronavirus lockdown is seen on the labour market.
Figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) showed that 414,605 people were registered to claim the benefit in the two counties on May 14.
This is up by nearly 80,000 on just a month earlier, and almost doubles the total before lockdown was announced on March 20.
At Liskeard’s Jobcentre Plus, staff said much of the increase appears to be from self-employed people,particularly in the hospitality and construction industries, who signed on for Universal Credit (UC) when they were unable to continue working.
But work coach Steve Coley said it is hoped many of them will now start to return to work as the economy gradually unlocks, though he did warn: “There are some people that have not got jobs to go back to.”
Nationally,the number of people claiming work-related benefits soared by 23% to 2.8million.
Of that figure, 7.9% of them are in Devon and Cornwall, where the total of 414,605 is up from 335,081 on April 9, and 228,043 on March 12.
Throughout the South West there are areas which are worse affected than others, with Cornwall particularly badly affected.
Most Read
The Duchy saw a rise of more than 7,000 claimants in just a month. There are now 47,541 海角视频 claimants in the Duchy, up from 40,278.
Exeter also saw an increase with 8,103 claimants in May, an increase from the 6,535 a month before.
Torbay, with its dependence on the locked-down tourism sector, recorded 13,103 海角视频 claimants in May, an increase from 10,979. That means more than 7,000 people began to claim UC since the lockdown came into force.
And the number of people claiming UC in Plymouth soared to 25,568 in May,from 22,165, with more than 9,000 people additionally registered to claim the benefit in the city since lockdown started. The figure in March was 16,050.
UC does include some people who are using it to top up part-time work,so not all claimants are unemployed, and there may be some people included in the stats who later moved on to the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) or the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), but it does give an indication of how the lockdown is affecting the economy.
And there are fears some of the many thousands of workers currently furloughed could be made redundant in the coming months.
Recent Government figures showed 654,000 workers are furloughed in the South West, of which 206,000 are in Devon and Cornwall. An additional 66,600 self-employed people are claiming SEISS.
Don’t miss
And new HMRC data fo rMay reveals a fall of 2.1%, or 612,000, on 海角视频 payrolls,which means the number of people actually in work,compared with March.
How to contact William Telford and Business Live
Business Live's South West Business Reporter is William Telford. William has more than a decade's experience reporting on the business scene in Plymouth and the South West. He is based in Plymouth but covers the entire region.
To contact William: Email: william.telford@reachplc.com - Phone: 01752 293116 - Mob: 07584 594052 - Twitter: - LinkedIn: - Facebook:
Stay in touch: BusinessLive newsletters have been re-designed to make them even better. We send morning bulletins straight to your inbox on the latest news, views and opinion in the South West. Get our breaking news alerts and weekly sector reviews too. Sign up now - it's free and it only takes a minute. To sign up for Business Live's daily newsletters click .
And visit the Business Live South West LinkedIn page
Tej Parikh, chief economist at the Institute of Directors, said employers were expected to begin making thousands more people redundant as the furlough scheme was phased out between August and October, and the Institute for Employment Studies is predicting that 3million people will be out of work by July.
Since the start of March, the DWP has had to deal with 3million claims for UC across the country.
At its peak, the Jobcentre service was receiving 2.2million phone calls a day. The volume was so great, to stop the system being overwhelmed,staff were all working overtime and cases were farmed out to areas of the country with lower populations.
For example, at the Liskeard Jobcentre, staff were handling cases from Wembley, in London.
Mr Coley paid tribute to staff who handed the huge increase in work rapidly and efficiently and said: “We got the claims moving very quickly.”