Dole queues shrank drastically across Kent last month.

There were 620 fewer people claiming jobseeker's allowance or universal credit, bringing the total in June to 21,365, according to the Office for National Statistics.

It is the second straight month the county's claimant count has fallen, following seven consecutive months of increases.

Men made up most of the fall, with 395 halting their unemployment benefits compared with 230 women.

The largest decrease was in Medway, where 250 people stopped claiming, bringing the area's total to 3,240, the second highest in Kent.

Shepway recorded a drop of 95 to 1,505, while Thanet, which has the county's largest claimant count at 4,015, managed the third strongest decline of 70.

The number of people out of work increased by 5,000 across the South East to 166,000 in the three months to May, giving it an unemployment rate of 3.5%.

Nationally, the number of unemployed people fell by 12,000 to reach 1.41 million.

Although overall unemployment decreased, there was a 6,000 increase in the number of unemployed men, although this was smaller than the 18,000 decrease in the number of unemployed women.