East Herts over-50s claiming out-of-work benefits rose 11.3% in a year, three times the England rate, and the district's total rose fastest in Herts again.
The number of East Hertfordshire residents aged 50 and over claiming unemployment-related benefits rose by 11.3% in a year, three times the rate across England, according to figures released on Tuesday.
There were 540 claimants aged 50 or over in the district in August 2026, against 485 in August 2025. Across England the same age group rose 3.7%.
The district’s total count reached 1,965, up 135 on a year earlier, a rise of 7.4%. That is the steepest of Hertfordshire’s ten districts for the second month in a row, and four times the England rise of 1.8%.
East Herts still has the county’s lowest claimant rate, at 2.0% of residents aged 16 to 64. Hertfordshire as a whole is on 3.0% and England on 4.0%. Both things are true at once, and the gap between them is the story: the district with the least to worry about is the one where the number is moving fastest.
The figures come from the Office for National Statistics claimant count, published through nomis on 15 September 2026.
Where the rise is coming from
The increase is not spread evenly across the age groups. In East Herts it is concentrated at both ends of a working life:
- 18 to 24: 285 claimants, up from 250, a rise of 14.0%. England rose 9.4%.
- 25 to 49: 1,135 claimants, up from 1,095, a rise of 3.7%. Across England this group fell 1.3%.
- 50 and over: 540 claimants, up from 485, a rise of 11.3%. England rose 3.7%.
The over-50s figure is the one that has changed character. When we reported the July release, the rise here was being driven by the middle of the age range and the youth increase was among the smallest in the county. A month later the under-25 rise has jumped to 14% and the over-50s are climbing three times as fast as they are nationally.
Broxbourne is the mirror image again
The other half of this paper’s patch behaved almost completely differently.
Broxbourne recorded 2,135 claimants, up just 30 on the year, a rise of 1.4%. That is the third slowest of the county’s ten districts. Its rate is 3.3%, the third highest in Hertfordshire.
Its entire increase is among young people. The number of 18 to 24 year olds claiming rose 12.5%, from 360 to 405. Both older groups fell: 25 to 49 down 0.8% to 1,235, and 50 and over down 2.0% to 490.
So Broxbourne has 405 young claimants to East Herts’ 285, on roughly two thirds of the population.
Every one of the five highest wards is in Broxbourne
Claimant figures are published down to ward level for both districts, and the 36 wards between them are a steep gradient.
| Ward | District | Rate | Claimants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waltham Cross | Broxbourne | 4.9% | 405 |
| Cheshunt North | Broxbourne | 4.6% | 280 |
| Cheshunt South and Theobalds | Broxbourne | 3.7% | 230 |
| Wormley and Turnford | Broxbourne | 3.7% | 275 |
| Rosedale and Bury Green | Broxbourne | 3.6% | 220 |
| Hertford Sele | East Herts | 3.3% | 135 |
| Ware Trinity | East Herts | 3.1% | 110 |
At the other end, Ware St Mary’s is the lowest of all 36 wards at 1.2%, with Hunsdon and The Mundens on 1.5%.
Bishop’s Stortford’s own six wards all sit in the lower half of the range. Bishop’s Stortford North is the town’s highest at 2.4% (145 claimants), followed by Central on 2.3%, All Saints on 2.2%, Parsonage on 2.0%, Thorley Manor on 1.6% and South on 1.5%. Sawbridgeworth is on 1.9%.
One note on the arithmetic: ward counts are rounded to the nearest five, so the 26 East Herts wards add up to 1,955 against a district total of 1,965, and the ten Broxbourne wards to 2,140 against 2,135.
Why the ward gap matters from 2028
Those 36 wards are due to become a single council. East Herts and Broxbourne were named for merger by the government as East Hertfordshire and Broxbourne Council, with elections in May 2027 and vesting day on 1 April 2028, although the national reorganisation programme has since been paused.
A single authority would span a ward on 4.9% and a ward on 1.2%. Whichever council is running employment support and welfare advice after 2028 inherits both ends of that gradient at once.
What the claimant count is, and is not
The claimant count is not the unemployment rate, and the two should not be used interchangeably.
The ONS describes it as “a measure of the number of people claiming benefits principally for the reason of being unemployed, based on administrative data from the benefits system”, and states plainly that it “does not attempt to measure unemployment, which is a concept defined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) as all those who are out of work, actively seeking work and available to start work” (ONS claimant count QMI).
It counts people on Universal Credit who are required to look for work to qualify for their benefits, which includes some part-time workers on very low earnings who are seeking full-time work.
The figures are also revised. July’s East Herts count was published last month as 1,930; in this release it reads 1,905. Comparisons in this article use the current series throughout.
What it means for you
- Out of work and over 50 in East Herts? You are part of the fastest-growing group in the district’s count, and the group least likely to be the target of support designed around youth unemployment.
- Looking at the numbers for a local picture? Use the ward figures, not the district ones. Bishop’s Stortford North on 2.4% and Ware St Mary’s on 1.2% are in the same council area.
- Reading a national headline about young people and work? It fits Broxbourne, where the whole rise is under-25s. It only half fits East Herts, where the over-50s rose almost as fast.
- Next release: the September 2026 figures are due from the ONS on 20 October 2026.
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