Other Limitations

See below for the DWP comments on the limitations of   Statistics on Jobseeker's Allowance by Jobcentre district and by month from March 2008 to October 2012

Please ensure you read the following notes before using and interpreting this data.

Source:
DWP Information, Governance and Security Directorate


Notes:
1. Figures are rounded to the nearest ten. "-" denotes nil or negligible.
2. Caseload Month: Caseloads are taken on the last day of each month.
3. * denotes dormant offices.

The figures supplied are derived from unpublished information and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They have been created by matching data derived from the Jobseeker’s Allowance Payment System (JSAPS) and the Labour Market System (LMS). These systems are used to administer the claim process and are subject to user imputation errors. Therefore matching between these two data sources can result in incorrect or non-matches. They should therefore be treated with caution.

The following should also be noted if a comparison is made between these figures and published figures on the number of Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) sanctions and disallowances. The number of sanctions and disallowance referrals in each month is taken from the date on which the decision was made. For a number of reasons the claimant may no longer be claiming JSA at this point therefore a direct comparison may not be valid.

There will also be differences between the caseload figures provided and those produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) from the claimant count. This is for the following reasons:

The claimant count includes claims which are processed clerically, whereas the DWP JSA statistics only include computer processed claims.
Claimant count statistics allow approximately 3 weeks for late processed claims to be input onto the DWP computer systems, whereas DWP JSA statistics allow at least 9 weeks.
The claimant count measures ‘live’ claimants on the second Thursday of the month, whereas DWP JSA statistics measures ‘live’ claimants on the last day of the month.

On the 1 April 2013, the following changes occurred:

The number of districts in Southern England Group reduced from 6 to 5.
Hampshire & the Isle of Wight and Wessex districts merged to become a new district called Greater Wessex.

Devon and Cornwall district has been renamed Devon, Cornwall and Somerset district.
Swindon has moved from Wessex district to Thames Valley district.

However, the office structure will still sit under the pre-2011 districts. There are no changes to Surrey and Sussex district and Gloucestershire and West of England district. Please note the figures provided are based on the pre-April 2013 Jobcentre Plus geographies.