Benn ward has 395 people claiming out-of-work benefits, more than any ward in Warwickshire. Paddox, under two miles away, has 70. July's figures for 16 wards.

Benn ward has 395 residents claiming out-of-work benefits. That is more than any other ward in Warwickshire, and nearly a fifth of the borough’s whole total.

Paddox, a little over a mile and a half away on the other side of Hillmorton Road, has 70.

Both wards sit inside the unparished town of Rugby. The figures come from the claimant count for July 2026, the monthly Office for National Statistics series published through nomis, released last week.

The borough number first

Rugby borough had 2,220 claimants in July 2026, or 2.9% of residents aged 16 to 64. That is below the United Kingdom figure of 3.9%.

It is also the highest the borough has recorded in at least fourteen months. A year earlier the count was 2,045, so it has risen by 175, or 8.6%. Over the same twelve months the UK count rose by 1.3%.

Rugby sits mid-table in its own county:

Warwickshire district Claimants, July 2026 Rate
Nuneaton and Bedworth 3,665 4.2%
North Warwickshire 1,165 2.9%
Rugby 2,220 2.9%
Warwick 2,395 2.4%
Stratford-on-Avon 1,840 2.2%

Every Rugby ward

Claimant count rate in each of Rugby borough’s 16 wards, July 2026 Horizontal bars showing the share of residents aged 16 to 64 claiming out-of-work benefits in each Rugby borough ward in July 2026. Benn is highest at 5.4 per cent, followed by New Bilton at 3.8, Newbold and Brownsover at 3.7, Eastlands at 3.4, Rokeby and Overslade at 3.2, Wolston and the Lawfords at 3.1, Clifton Newton and Churchover at 2.9, Wolvey and Shilton at 2.5, Bilton at 2.4, Leam Valley at 2.3, Hillmorton at 2.2, Admirals and Cawston at 2.1, Dunsmore at 2.1, Coton and Boughton at 1.9, Revel and Binley Woods at 1.7 and Paddox lowest at 1.6 per cent. The borough average is 2.9 per cent and the United Kingdom figure is 3.9 per cent. Benn’s claimant rate is more than three times Paddox’s Share of residents aged 16 to 64 claiming out-of-work benefits, July 2026. Borough average 2.9%. borough 2.9% Benn5.4% New Bilton3.8% Newbold and Brownsover3.7% Eastlands3.4% Rokeby and Overslade3.2% Wolston and the Lawfords3.1% Clifton, Newton, Churchover2.9% Wolvey and Shilton2.5% Bilton2.4% Leam Valley2.3% Hillmorton2.2% Admirals and Cawston2.1% Dunsmore2.1% Coton and Boughton1.9% Revel and Binley Woods1.7% Paddox1.6% Bars start at zero. Source: ONS claimant count, July 2026, via nomis. Counts are rounded to the nearest five. Graphic by Rugby Town News

The numbers behind that chart, with January 2026 for comparison. January is as far back as the ward series runs:

Ward July 2026 Rate January 2026 Change
Benn 395 5.4% 345 +50
New Bilton 225 3.8% 235 -10
Newbold and Brownsover 235 3.7% 200 +35
Eastlands 220 3.4% 200 +20
Rokeby and Overslade 135 3.2% 135 0
Wolston and the Lawfords 165 3.1% 150 +15
Clifton, Newton and Churchover 60 2.9% 50 +10
Wolvey and Shilton 45 2.5% 40 +5
Bilton 85 2.4% 75 +10
Leam Valley 30 2.3% 20 +10
Hillmorton 140 2.2% 125 +15
Admirals and Cawston 135 2.1% 120 +15
Dunsmore 110 2.1% 95 +15
Coton and Boughton 105 1.9% 95 +10
Revel and Binley Woods 60 1.7% 55 +5
Paddox 70 1.6% 65 +5

Three things stand out.

  • Benn is the outlier, and it is getting further out. It has added 50 claimants since January, more than any other ward, and it now accounts for 17.8% of the borough’s total.
  • New Bilton is the only ward that fell. It is down 10 since January, from 235 to 225, and it has swapped places with Newbold and Brownsover as a result.
  • The rest moved together. Twelve of the sixteen wards added between five and twenty claimants, which is the shape of a general drift rather than a local shock.

Benn’s 395 is the largest claimant count of any of Warwickshire’s 108 wards. Second is St Mary’s in Nuneaton on 390. Nomis rounds these counts to the nearest five, so treat the top two as a tie rather than a ranking. On rate rather than headcount Benn is fifth in the county, behind three Nuneaton wards and Camp Hill in Bedworth.

Where these wards are

Ward names are not always obvious, so for the two ends of the table:

  • Benn takes in part of the town centre either side of Church Street, Regent Street and Bank Street, along with Clifton Road, Newbold Road at the Benn Hall, and Caldecott Park.
  • Paddox covers the Hillmorton Road frontage south of the town, including Paddox Close, Dunsmore Avenue and Oval Road.

The two are 1.7 miles apart measured between Bank Street and Paddox Close, using Ordnance Survey postcode centroids.

The youth figure, in context

Rugby had 440 claimants aged 18 to 24 in July 2026, up from 370 a year earlier, a rise of 18.9%. That is roughly double the UK rise of 9.7% over the same period.

It is not, though, a Rugby story. Warwickshire as a whole went from 1,970 young claimants to 2,400, a rise of 21.8%, so the county moved further than the borough did. Whatever is happening to young jobseekers here is happening across Warwickshire and rather harder elsewhere in it.

What the claimant count actually measures

This is not the unemployment rate, and the two are often confused.

The claimant count is a count of people claiming benefits principally for being out of work: Jobseeker’s Allowance, plus Universal Credit claimants who are in the “searching for work” conditionality group. It therefore includes some people who are working part time on a low income and are still required to look for more hours, and it excludes people who are out of work but not claiming.

Two further cautions. The figures are not seasonally adjusted at ward level. And nomis rounds ward counts to the nearest five, which is why the sixteen wards here add up to 2,215 rather than the borough’s published 2,220.

What it means for you

  • If you are claiming and looking for work, the borough’s Jobcentre Plus office and the council’s own support are the practical starting points. The rise in the under-25 figure is county-wide, so specialist youth provision is likely to be busier than it was a year ago.
  • If you are looking at where to live or buy, note that the claimant count is a measure of benefit claims, not of an area’s character, and that a ward is a large and mixed unit. Benn contains both town-centre flats and Victorian terraces.
  • If you follow council decisions, these are the figures that sit underneath the town centre delivery plan and the debate about what the new North Warwickshire unitary authority inherits in April 2028.

We publish the borough figure every month when the ONS releases it. Rugby’s average house price and its planning caseload are on our house prices and planning pages.