Standing view · labour_market · Bradford
mixed, held with tentative confidence, formed on 5 October 2026 from movements in 2026-08.
Workless households with dependent children in Bradford numbered 24,300 in 2025, an unfavourable movement. The claimant count was 23,480 in December 2025 and 23,445 in January 2026, both favourable. Claimants as a proportion of residents aged 16 to 64 stood at 6.7% in December 2025, also favourable, and 6.8% in February 2026. Long-term sick made up 31% of the economically inactive in the year to March 2026, those looking after family or home 17.3% and retired people 12.1%.
A view is formed only where the evidence names a figure you can check. Each movement listed as a reason had to be large enough to matter and distinctive in at least one way — unusual against this area's own history, unusual against comparable areas, or sustained over several periods. A movement shared with peers counts for less, because it says something about the country rather than about Bradford. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.
| Measure | Period | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Workless households, dependent children | 2025 | deteriorating |
| Claimant count | 2025-12 | improving |
| Claimants as a proportion of residents aged 16-64 | 2025-12 | improving |
| Claimant count | 2026-01 | improving |
These figures carry no defensible direction of their own: a rising house price is good news to an owner and bad news to someone trying to buy, so we do not score one as an improvement. They are shown because they are part of the picture, and they did not decide the view above.
| Measure | Period | Series |
|---|---|---|
| Claimants as a proportion of residents aged 16-64 | 2026-02 | — |
| % of economically inactive long-term sick | 2026-03 | — |
| % of economically inactive looking after family/home | 2026-03 | — |
| % of economically inactive retired | 2026-03 | — |