Bromley's claimant count barely moved in a year, at 7,320. Underneath it, 18 to 24-year-olds are up 23.9% in two years, the fourth-steepest rise in London.

Bromley’s claimant count stood at 7,320 in July 2026, or 3.5 per cent of residents aged 16 to 64. A year earlier it was 7,325. On the face of it, nothing happened.

Underneath, something did. The number of 18 to 24-year-olds claiming has risen from 1,005 in July 2024 to 1,245 this July, up 23.9 per cent in two years. Over the same period the 25 to 49 group fell by 255. One group rising while a bigger group falls is why the borough total looks still.

The figures come from the Office for National Statistics via nomis, released on 18 August.

Bromley is near the top of London for this

Across London, the 18 to 24 claimant count rose 14.2 per cent over the same two years. Across the UK it rose 15.7 per cent. Bromley’s 23.9 per cent is well clear of both.

Of the 32 London boroughs outside the City of London, only three rose faster:

Borough July 2024 July 2026 Change
Kingston upon Thames 420 550 +31.0%
Greenwich 1,725 2,210 +28.1%
Bexley 870 1,105 +27.0%
Bromley 1,005 1,245 +23.9%
Redbridge 1,615 1,990 +23.2%
London 46,120 52,665 +14.2%

The three above Bromley are all outer boroughs too. Whatever is happening to young jobseekers is happening hardest at the edges of London, not in the middle. Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea are the only two boroughs where the under-25 count fell.

Bar chart of Bromley claimant count by age group in July 2024, 2025 and 2026: 18 to 24-year-olds rise from 1,005 to 1,120 to 1,245; 25 to 49-year-olds fall from 4,345 to 4,280 to 4,090; over-50s rise from 1,825 to 1,915 to 1,980
Graphic by Bromley Online

The three age groups, three directions

  • 18 to 24: 1,005, then 1,120, then 1,245. Up 240 in two years, and up 125 in the last year alone.
  • 25 to 49: 4,345, then 4,280, then 4,090. Down 255 in two years.
  • 50 and over: 1,825, then 1,915, then 1,980. Up 155 in two years.

The middle group is still by far the largest, at 4,090 of the 7,320 total. But it is the only one shrinking.

Where in the borough

Ward figures for July 2026 show a spread of more than three to one across Bromley. These are claimants as a share of residents aged 16 to 64.

Ward Claimants Rate
Crystal Palace & Anerley 560 6.2%
St Paul’s Cray 645 5.6%
Penge & Cator 750 5.6%
Mottingham 405 5.2%
St Mary Cray 600 5.1%
Petts Wood & Knoll 180 1.8%
West Wickham 160 1.8%
Hayes & Coney Hall 170 1.8%

Penge & Cator has the largest number of claimants of any Bromley ward. Crystal Palace & Anerley has the highest rate. At the other end, three wards sit at 1.8 per cent, which is roughly half the borough figure and a third of the Crystal Palace & Anerley one.

The 22 ward counts add to 7,315 against a borough total of 7,320. Everything is rounded to the nearest five, so small gaps like that are normal rather than an error.

What the number is, and is not

This matters, because the claimant count gets reported as unemployment and it is not the same thing.

  • It counts people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance plus those on Universal Credit who are required to seek work and be available for work (nomis).
  • That includes some people who are working, on low earnings, under Universal Credit work-search conditions.
  • These figures are not seasonally adjusted. July always carries school and college leavers, which is why every comparison here is July against July.
  • ONS rounds to the nearest five.

Bromley’s 3.5 per cent sits below London’s 5.6 per cent and below the UK’s 3.9 per cent. By the standards of the capital, this is a low-claimant borough. The direction of travel among its youngest workers is the part that stands out.

For separate national context, the ONS labour market bulletin was published on 18 August. It put the UK unemployment rate at 4.9 per cent for April to June 2026, with vacancies down 6,000 to 707,000 in the three months to July (ONS). Those come from different surveys, so they cannot be compared directly with the local counts above.

What it means for you

If you are 18 to 24 and looking for work in Bromley, the competition is genuinely tougher than it was two years ago, and tougher here than in most of London. There are around 240 more people your age on the count than in July 2024, chasing a national vacancy pool that has been shrinking rather than growing.

If you are 25 to 49, the local picture has quietly improved. Two hundred and fifty-five fewer people in that band are claiming than two years ago.

For everyone else, the practical use of these figures is as a check on claims about the borough. When a councillor or a candidate says unemployment in Bromley is rising or falling, the honest answer for the past year is that the total did neither. It moved by five.

The next release is due on 15 September 2026.

Sources