Claimant Count in Trafford
The Claimant Count indicates the number of people claiming benefits principally for the reason of being unemployed. The Claimant Count in October 2025 was 30.6% higher than in January 2020. The rate of claimants to residents aged 16 to 64 was 3.1% in October 2025 representing an increment of 0.8% points from January 2020. The number of claimants decreased from April 2021. After an increase in February 2025, the trend has been downwards with a slight increase on October 2025.
The Trafford MSOA with the largest share of claims in October 2025 was Old Trafford with 13.7% of all claimants within Trafford, almost the double of claims than Gorse Hill, the MSOA with the second largest number of claims. 4 of the MSOA has more claims in October 2025 compared to October 2024, and 8 MSOA had no additional claims. Trafford Park East & Sevenways have the largest increase in number of claims with 25 more, followed by Urmston East, Urmston West and Bowdon with 10 additional claims each. Old Trafford had the most reduction in number of claims with 105 less followed by Gorse Hill (55).
The MSOAs with higher claimant rate in October 2025 were Old Trafford with 7.7%, Gorse Hill with 6% and Partington with 5.4%. The MSOAs where the claimant rate have decreased more from October 2024 to October 2025 was Old Trafford with -1.3% points decrease. The top 3 MSOA with higher rate in October 2025, Old Trafford, Gorse Hill and Partington had decreased when comparing rate to October 2025.
In Trafford, from October 2024 to October 2025, 8 out of 11 of the age bands has decreased the number of claimants. The age band 18-24 had the most increase with 165 more claimants. When considering the reduction of claims the age band 35-39 years had the largest reduction with -110 less claims. Considering the broad age bands, only the age band 16-24 had increases.
At the start of 2020 the age band 25-34 already had the highest number of claims, however after the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic which started in March 2020 this figure increased more sharply compared to the other age bands. The claimant rate as a proportion of Trafford’s population within each age band showed then a higher increase in the age bands of 16-24 and 25-34 compared to the others. From January 2023 the count and rate of all age bands started to increase but the figures are fluctuating from April 2023. The age groups 35 to 44 and 45 to 54 had an increase on July 2024, followed by a decrease in numbers.
More than half of Trafford’s claimants are residents of 1 quarter of the MSOAs. Around half of the claimants are between 25 and 44 years.
Universal Credit claims in Trafford
The Universal Credit claims in Trafford have increased 150.2% from January 2020 to October 2025. The rate of claims as a proportion of people age 16 to 64 increased form 6.1% to 15.1% from January 2020 to October 2025. Claimants are migrating from legacy benefits to Universal Credit which replace six means-tested benefits for working-age people: Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, Housing Benefit, Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, and income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).
The Trafford MSOA with the largest share of claims in October 2025 was Old Trafford with 12.3% of all Universal Credit claims in Trafford. All MSOAs have more claims in October 2025 compared to October 2024. The MSOAs with more additional claims when comparing October 2024 to October 2025 were Old Trafford (331), Partington (315) and Broadheath & Firsway (251). The MSOAs with more increase in percentage change from October 2024 to October 2025 were Urmston East with 31% change and Timperley North with 31% change.
The MSOAs with higher rates of Universal Credit claims in October 2025 were Partington with 40.8% and Old Trafford with 34.7%. The MSOAs where the rate of Universal Credit claims has increased more from October 2024 to October 2025 were Partington with 6.3% points increase and Old Trafford with 4.2% points increase.
In Trafford from October 2024 to October 2025 the 60-65 age band has the largest increment in percentage change of Universal Credit claims with 49%. When considering the number of additional claims from October 2024 to October 2025 the 5-year age band 60-65 years had the highest with 771 more claims. All age bands had an increment of claims compared to October 2024. The age band 16-19 had a 27% change increase compared to October 2024.
Following the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 the number of claims for all ages rose dramatically from pre-pandemic levels at a similar proportion for all age bands with the age band 16-24 rising faster in May 2020. At the start of 2020 the age band 25-34 had the highest number of claims and also the highest rate maintaining that position after the rise from March 2020 until May 2022 when the 35-44 became the age band with the highest number of claims. The age band 16-24 has the lowest number of claims among the other age bands from July 2021. All the age bands are increasing their number of claims particularly from January 2023, however ages 16 to 34 had remained more stable. From April 2025 the count and rate of claims fro age 55+ are increasing.
The Conditionality regimen for entitlement to Universal Credit is associated to work-related things that claimants will have to do to maintain eligibility. In Trafford the largest proportion of Universal Credit claims are in the “No work requirements” category however there is also a large proportion of claims under “Searching for work”. In Old Trafford, 47% of Universal Credit claimants were under “No work requirements” whilst 22% where “Searching for work”. In Partington, 58% of claims were under “No work requirements” whilst 13% under “Searching for work”, and 14% of claims were under “Working - no requirements”.
Households on Universal Credit can access additional entitlements for children, health and disabilities, housing, and carers, at the top of the standard allowance. Each household can receive more then one entitlement. As a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic the number of entitlements showed a sudden increase whilst at the same time the proportion of household receiving entitlements decreased indicating a larger number of claims not receiving additional entitlements.
As claimants are migrating from legacy benefits to Universal Credit and new claims are reported, the number of household receiving an entitlement have been increasing. In the past year, there has been an increase in number of household receiving Limited Capability for Work Entitlement and the Housing Entitlement, and an increase in percentage of households receiving Limited Capacity for Work entitlement.
