Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of unemployed graduates who are claiming benefits; and what is the proportion of females and males represented in that number.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

Please see the letter attached from the Permanent Secretary at the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Lord Patten

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

02 February 2026

Dear Lord Patten,

As Permanent Secretary of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking what assessment has been made of the number of unemployed graduates who are claiming benefits; and what is the proportion of females and males represented in that number (HL13936).

The ONS collects information on the labour market status of individuals through the Labour Force Survey (LFS), which is a survey of people resident in households in the UK. People are classed as unemployed if they were not doing paid work in the reference week, or had a job they were temporarily away from, and are actively seeking and available to start work.

Respondents who are not in employment and are aged between 16 and 69 years are asked if they are claiming any state benefits or tax credits, as well as information regarding any qualifications they have.

The estimated number of unemployed people in the UK aged between 16 and 69 years, who claim any state benefits or tax credits, and have a degree or equivalent qualification, for September to November 2025, the latest LFS period available, is 190,000. This number is made up of an estimated 58% women and 42% men.

Because the identification of whether someone claims benefits is based on survey responses, the total number will differ from administrative counts of claimants.

Labour Force Survey (LFS) are considered ‘official statistics in development’ until further review. Previous challenges with response rates, response levels and weighting approach led to increased volatility. While these have lessened following improvement action, we still advise some caution when interpreting changes in recent periods.

Yours sincerely,

Darren Tierney