Lambeth's claimant count barely moved in a year. Under-25s rose 20.3% since July 2024, while the 25 to 49 group fell and London's total dropped.

15,065 Lambeth residents were claiming unemployment-related benefits in July, 6.2% of everyone in the borough aged 16 to 64. On the face of it nothing has happened: the figure was 15,080 a year ago, a change of 15 people (ONS claimant count via nomis).

Underneath that flat headline, two age groups are moving in opposite directions.

  • Aged 18 to 24: 1,795 in July 2024, 2,070 in July 2025, 2,160 this July. Up 20.3% in two years.
  • Aged 25 to 49: 8,410, then 8,620, now 8,515. Up 1.2% in two years, and down 1.2% in the last one.

A rising younger group and a slightly falling larger one cancel out. That is why the total looks still, and it is why the total is the least useful number in the release.

Lambeth is going the other way to London

The two-year comparison is the one that shows it. Over the same period that Lambeth’s total rose 5.6%, from 14,265 to 15,065, London’s total fell 1.4% and the UK’s fell 4.9%.

Claimant count, July 2024 to July 2026, ONS via nomis
Area and ageJuly 2024July 2026Change
Lambeth, all ages 16+14,26515,065+5.6%
Lambeth, 18 to 241,7952,160+20.3%
Lambeth, 25 to 498,4108,515+1.2%
London, all ages 16+354,275349,355-1.4%
London, 18 to 2446,12052,665+14.2%
UK, all ages 16+1,777,6201,690,970-4.9%
UK, 18 to 24284,290328,865+15.7%

The rise in young claimants is a national pattern, not a Lambeth one. But Lambeth’s 20.3% is steeper than London’s 14.2% and steeper than the UK’s 15.7%, and it ranks 10th of the 33 London boroughs on that measure.

Kingston upon Thames leads at 31.0%, then Greenwich at 28.1% and Bexley at 27.0%. Immediately around Lambeth the picture splits: Wandsworth is up 22.2%, worse than Lambeth, while Southwark is up 10.0%, half Lambeth’s rate. Two boroughs that share a boundary at Herne Hill and Kennington are on quite different tracks.

Lambeth claimant count by age, July 2024 to July 2026 A chart comparing two age groups of claimants in Lambeth across three Julys. The 18 to 24 group rose from 1,795 in July 2024 to 2,070 in July 2025 to 2,160 in July 2026, a rise of 20.3 per cent. The 25 to 49 group went from 8,410 to 8,620 to 8,515 over the same three years, a rise of 1.2 per cent overall and a fall of 1.2 per cent in the last year. The borough total was 14,265, then 15,080, then 15,065. A flat total in Lambeth hides a fifth more young claimants Claimant count in July of each year, indexed so both age groups start at 100 125 110 95 100 July 2024 July 2025 July 2026 18 to 24: 2,160 (+20.3%) 1,795 25 to 49: 8,515 (+1.2%) 8,410 Source: ONS claimant count via nomis, dataset NM_162_1, not seasonally adjusted. Counts are rounded to the nearest five. Borough total: 14,265 in July 2024, 15,080 in July 2025, 15,065 in July 2026. Graphic by Clapham News
Both lines start at the same point. Only one of them goes anywhere. Graphic by Clapham News.

Where Lambeth sits on the rate

At 6.2% of residents aged 16 to 64, Lambeth is the 11th highest of the 33 boroughs, above the London rate of 5.6% and well above the UK’s 3.9%. Croydon matches it at 6.2%. Newham, Haringey and Barking and Dagenham share the top of the table at 7.5%, and Richmond upon Thames sits at 2.6%.

Lambeth’s rate has not moved in a year. It was 5.9% in July 2024 and 6.2% in each of the last two Julys.

What the claimant count does and does not measure

This is the statistic most often reported as a local unemployment figure, and it is not one. Four things are worth knowing before anyone quotes it at you:

  • It is not the unemployment rate. It counts people claiming unemployment-related benefits, mainly Universal Credit, and the two measures do not match.
  • It includes some people who are working. Universal Credit claimants on low earnings can be placed in the work-search group and counted here.
  • It is not seasonally adjusted. July always picks up school and college leavers, which is exactly why this piece compares July with July rather than with June.
  • ONS rounds every figure to the nearest five. Small changes between months are not reliable on their own.

None of that undoes the two-year pattern. A 365-person rise in the 18 to 24 group, sustained across two years and matched in most of London, is bigger than rounding and bigger than seasonality.

What it means for you

If you are under 25 and out of work in Lambeth, you are part of the only age group in the borough that is growing. Lambeth Council’s employment service is Be Lambeth, which matches out-of-work residents to vacancies and helps with CVs, applications and interviews (Lambeth Council). The national job-hunting routes are on GOV.UK.

If you are hiring, the pool of younger candidates in the borough is larger than it has been at any point in the last two years, while the 25 to 49 pool has shrunk slightly.

If you follow this figure, the next release covers August 2026 and lands in the middle of September. The number to watch is not the total. It is the 18 to 24 line, and whether the gap between Lambeth and Southwark keeps widening.

Sources

  • ONS claimant count by sex and age, via nomis (dataset NM_162_1) for every figure in this article: the Lambeth, London and UK totals, the 18 to 24 and 25 to 49 age splits for July 2024, 2025 and 2026, the proportion of residents aged 16 to 64, and the comparison across all 33 London boroughs.
  • Figures are not seasonally adjusted and are rounded by ONS to the nearest five. July 2026 is the latest month published.