Dataset: Alternative Claimant Count - Off Flows
Description
Unemployment related benefits can be claimed by people who are either in or out of employment.
An individual claiming benefits at the count date will be recorded as in employment if they have employment earnings within the assessment period spanning the count date. They may not be in employment precisely on the count date.
Classification
The employment indicator for claimants can take the following values:
In employment
Not in employment
Not available
Total number of categories: 3
Quality Statement
In certain circumstances it may be possible to work and claim unemployment related benefits. These are generally claimants working part time or with very low earnings. Within the Alternative Claimant Count, the employment status of a claimant is derived depending on which group the claimant is in:
Universal Credit, searching for work – These are Universal Credit claimants who are not working, or with very low earnings. The claimant is recorded as in employment if they have earnings recorded at any point during the assessment period that is active on the count date. This would include claimants who potentially started work after the count date or new claimants who having been made unemployed and are receiving their final wage after claiming Universal Credit. Further information on published Universal Credits claimants and employment is available in universal credit statistics background information and methodology.
Jobseekers Allowance - Previously, in order to claim JSA, or more recently (since the introduction of UC) ‘New style JSA’, criteria includes that claimants must not be working or working on average less than 16 hours per week.
Additionals - Housing Benefit and Child Tax Credit are income based benefits, available to those working on a low income or not working. Income thresholds differ depending on the individuals or households circumstances.
Employment status for legacy benefit claimants (Jobseekers Allowance and Additonals) is determined by using supplementary information (not previously published) held on the source data, this is in the form of weekly hours hours worked for Jobseekers Allowance and Child Tax Credit claimants (as notified by claimant) and monthly earnings for Housing Benefit claimants. While every effort is made to collect data to the highest quality, as with all administrative data it is dependent on the accuracy and timeliness of information entered into the system, for some legacy benefits this is information provided by the claimant. Note - There is a known issue with the tax credit data at April each year where we see a fall in the numbers of claimants recorded as in work.
Figures are estimates; using evidence of claimants’ earnings/hours worked in their latest assessment period to estimate the proportion who are (or have recently been) working. Figures include those with reported PAYE income in their most recent UC Assessment Period, those reporting part-time hours worked on JSA, and hours worked/income from earnings from those on CTC,HB.