The number of people in the south west claiming jobseekers’ allowance and some other benefits has more than doubled.

New figures published by the Office for National Statistics suggest there were 181,800 people claiming jobseekers’ allowance and some Universal Credit benefits in the south west in July 2020, an increase of 162 per cent on the previous year.

Of 4.5m people over 16 in the region, 102,000 were said to be unemployed between April and June. That represented a 29.1 per cent increase on the previous year – although the unemployment rate was still only 3.4 per cent. It is down from highs in the early 1990s, when the region had an unemployment rate of almost 10 per cent.

Nationally, around 730,000 UK workers have been removed from the payrolls of British companies since March when the coronavirus lockdown began.

The ONS said that employment rates have continued to decline in the last month, as another 81,000 jobs fell off payrolls across the country.

Yet the official unemployment rate is not rising. To be counted among the unemployed, workers need to be actively looking for a new job, which many have decided not to do yet, the ONS said.

A number of businesses in Swindon have announced job cuts. The National Trust, based in Rodbourne, said it was considering cutting 1,200 jobs. Shops House of Fraser and the Sainsbury's supermarket in the Brunel shopping centre have announced they will shut. Honda's car plant in South Marston will shut in 2021.