A wide array of benefits and financial support is available to you if you're unemployed and actively looking for work. It comes as the rate of unemployment has hit its highest levels in over four years.

Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the unemployment rate increased 4.8% in the three months leading up to August. This is a noticeable increase from 4.7% in the previous three months.

It is the highest unemployment figure since March to January 2021, when the Covid pandemic reached its peak. ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown said: “After a long period of weak hiring activity, there are signs that the falls we have seen in both payroll numbers and vacancies are now levelling off.

“We see different patterns across the age ranges with record numbers of ove

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