The figure is rising at an unprecedented rate and is approaching levels not seen since the mid-nineties.

The claimants count also reached a twelve year high rising by 24,900 a month to 1.58 million. This adds a total of 709,000 additional people claiming Job Seekers Allowance.

The number of redundancies has slowed in the last three months but fewer jobs are being created. According to the Office for National Statistics there were only 427,000 job vacancies in the three months to July, the lowest figure since records began in 2001, and down 26,000 over the quarter and 203,000 over the year.