December 10, 2010 12.06 pm This story is over 159 months old

One in 10 Lincolnites on benefits

Money matters: Around one in ten Lincolnites are claiming some form of benefit.

Figures obtained by The Lincolnite show that one in every ten people in Lincoln is claiming some kind of benefits.

A freedom of information request to the City of Lincoln Council disclosed that in October 11,512 people were claiming Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit or both.

It is unclear how many of these were unemployed, as Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit can be claimed by those in employment too.

According to Lincolnshire Research Observatory (LRO) however, in October there were just 3,827 people in Lincoln claiming Unemployment Benefit.

This is a 13% improvement on October 2009, when 4,526 people were claiming due to unemployment.

LRO believe that this could be due to more Christmas temporary jobs available, as well as various opportunities on new projects in West Lindsey.

Despite the amount of people claiming benefits in the city, Lincolnshire is below the national average in unemployment rates, with just 12,786 without a job.

The highest rate of unemployment in Lincolnshire is in Gainsborough, where 5.4% of the population are unemployed.

The largest change in claimants over the last year was in Stamford with 33% less, while Skegness had the least change.

There are presently 1,229,975 people without a job in England and Wales.