Kendal claimant count: 305, as young claims buck the UK

Three hundred and five people across Kendal’s five council wards were claiming unemployment-related benefits in July 2026, according to figures published by the Office for National Statistics on 18 August.

That is a small number by national standards, and the wider picture behind it is unusual. Across Westmorland and Furness as a whole, claims by 18 to 24 year olds have fallen 15.1% in two years. Over the same period the UK’s rose 15.7%. Almost nowhere else in the north west is going that way.

The Kendal wards

The ONS publishes the claimant count down to ward level through nomis. For July 2026, all ages, the five Kendal wards were:

• Kendal Highgate: 90
• Kendal Strickland and Fell: 90
• Kendal Nether: 60
• Kendal South: 40
• Kendal Castle: 25

Around the town, Windermere and Ambleside recorded 75, Grange and Cartmel 60, Sedbergh and Kirkby Lonsdale 50, Kent Estuary 35, Coniston and Hawkshead 30, Bowness and Lyth 25, Upper Kent 25, Burton and Holme 25, and Levens and Crooklands 15.

Ward figures are rounded to the nearest five and do not quite add up: the 33 wards of Westmorland and Furness sum to 2,420 against a council-wide total of 2,410. The ward series also has no history before 2026, so a year-on-year comparison cannot be made at this level yet.

Why the council-wide figure is not a Kendal figure

Westmorland and Furness recorded 2,410 claimants in July 2026, 1.8% of residents aged 16 to 64. That rate is the lowest of any comparison worth making: Cumberland is on 2.5%, the north west 4.1% and the UK 3.9%.

But the council covers three areas with very little in common, and the ward figures show how far apart they are. Old Barrow and Hindpool ward alone recorded 460 claimants, half as many again as all five Kendal wards put together. Add the other Barrow wards and the town accounts for 980 of the council’s 2,410, roughly two in five, on a fraction of the land area.

So when a council-wide unemployment figure is quoted for Kendal, it is being quoted for somewhere else.

The under-25 line, which is where the news is

The headline total moves slowly. Westmorland and Furness has sat between 2,315 and 2,515 every month since November 2025. The age split is more revealing, and here the district is genuinely an outlier.

Claimants aged 18 to 24, in July of each year:

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The contrast with Cumberland is the striking one. The two councils were a single county until April 2023. Since then their young claimant counts have pulled 38 percentage points apart.

There is a caution attached. Westmorland and Furness has an old population and a small one, so 450 claimants is a thin base and a swing of 30 or 40 people moves the percentage a long way. The trend has been consistent for two years rather than a single good month, which is the reason for reporting it, but it is not the same kind of number as the UK’s 328,865.

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. Some of them are working, on low earnings, under Universal Credit work-search conditions.
• The figures are not seasonally adjusted. July always picks up school and college leavers, which is why every comparison here is July against July. Comparing July with May would show a rise that means nothing.
• If you are looking for work locally, the National Careers Service offers free advice and runs a helpline on 0800 100 900.

The next release, covering August 2026, is due from the ONS in September.

Sources

• ONS claimant count via nomis, dataset NM_162_1, Westmorland and Furness (E06000064), Cumberland, Lancaster, North West and UK, July 2024 to July 2026, all ages and aged 18 to 24, not seasonally adjusted.
• Ward figures: nomis ward-level query for Westmorland and Furness, July 2026.

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