Tunbridge Wells Under-25 Claimant Count Up 28% in a Year

295 people aged 18 to 24 in Tunbridge Wells borough were claiming unemployment-related benefits in July, up from 230 in July last year. That is a rise of 28.3% in twelve months, at a time when the UK figure for the same age group rose 9.7%.

The borough total across all ages was 1,810, or 2.5% of residents aged 16 to 64. That is still one of the lowest rates in Kent. The pressure is concentrated almost entirely in the youngest group.

The figures are the Office for National Statistics claimant count for July 2026, taken from the nomis Claimant count by sex and age dataset.

The youngest claimants are driving the whole rise

Split the borough total by age and the three groups behave very differently.

The 25 to 49 group, which is more than half of all claimants here, is still below where it was in July 2024. The under-25 group is 70 higher than it was two years ago, a rise of 31.1% from a much smaller base.

Narrow the age band further and the pattern sharpens again. Claimants aged 18 to 21 went from 125 in July 2024 to 135 in July 2025 and 185 in July 2026. That is close to half as many again in two years.

West Kent has the county’s steepest youth rises

Tunbridge Wells is not alone in this, and the pattern across Kent is not the one you might expect. The three districts with the steepest twelve-month rise in under-25 claimants are the three wealthiest in the county’s west.

For comparison, the South East as a whole went from 30,835 to 34,605, a rise of 12.2%. The UK went from 299,680 to 328,865, a rise of 9.7%. Tunbridge Wells is running at close to three times the national rate of increase.

These are small numbers in absolute terms. A rise from 230 to 295 is 65 people. But the direction is consistent across three of the county’s districts and it has been building for two years.

The overall rate is still low

None of this makes Tunbridge Wells a high-unemployment area. Measured as a share of residents aged 16 to 64, the borough’s claimant rate in July was 2.5%, against 3.1% for the South East and 3.9% for the UK. Only Sevenoaks, at 2.3%, was lower in Kent. Tonbridge and Malling matched Tunbridge Wells at 2.5%.

At the other end of the county, Thanet was at 5.4%, and Gravesham and Medway both at 4.2%.

A year ago the Tunbridge Wells rate was 2.3%. The move to 2.5% is the first meaningful rise in the headline number since 2024.

What it means for you

• The claimant count is not the unemployment rate. It counts people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance, or Universal Credit while required to look for work. That includes some people who are working but on low earnings, and ONS says plainly that it does not measure unemployment.
• Students are largely missing from it. People in full-time education are not generally eligible for these benefits while looking for work, which ONS notes particularly affects 18 to 21 year olds. The rise in that group is not a rise in students signing on.
• The figures are not seasonally adjusted. July always carries school and college leavers, which is why every comparison here is July against July rather than against last month.
• ONS rounds to the nearest five. In a group as small as 295 that matters, and single-month wobbles should not be read as trends.
• If you are under 25 and looking for work, Jobcentre Plus support and the youth offer are accessed through Universal Credit and the National Careers Service, which is free and does not require you to be claiming anything.
• If you employ people here, this is the first year in three where the entry-level end of the local labour market has loosened noticeably.

Related: Tunbridge Wells house prices, Tunbridge Wells planning news and trains to London.

Sources

• ONS Claimant count by sex and age, via nomis, dataset NM_162_1, July 2024, July 2025 and July 2026, all persons, for Tunbridge Wells borough, the thirteen Kent local authority areas, the South East and the United Kingdom
• Claimant Count methodology, Office for National Statistics, for what the count does and does not measure