Percentage of people on out-of-work benefits by London borough (2022 Q1 and 2023 Q1)
The proportion of working-age Londoners on out-of-work benefits in 2023 has changed little over the 12 months across all London boroughs. This follows an overall trend of a decreasing proportion of people on out-of-work benefits since the rise seen at the beginning of the pandemic. However, the levels are not down to pre-pandemic levels.
Barking and Dagenham, and Hackney are the boroughs with the highest proportion of claimants - they had 16% of the working-age population on out-of-work benefits in February 2023, essentially unchanged compared to the same month in 2021.
The City of London had the lowest overall proportion of the working-age population on out-of-work benefits and at the same time saw the largest percentage point decrease in claimants - from 8% in February 2022 to 6% in the same month of 2023.