More people joined dole queues in Kent and Medway for the second month running in February, once again bucking the national trend.

Another 269 unemployed claimed Jobseeker's Allowance - a total of 28,318 - according to figures from the Office for National Statistics released today.

Dole queues remain longest in Medway, which suffered the largest rise in the county of 90, with a total of 5,494 claimants.

The second largest overall figure was once again in Thanet at 4,275, with the area also seeing a rise of 29 on Jobseeker's Allowance.

Gravesham saw the second largest increase in its claimant count, up by 60 to 2,052. It is the third month running its figure has risen, suffering a big jump of 90 in January.

Neigbouring Dartford was the next biggest riser, up 40 to 1,401.

However there was some good news, as some local authorities saw their dole queues shorten, with the largest fall in Swale, down 37 to 2,736.

The rest of the fall were minimal though, with Sevenoaks down 10 to 880, Shepway down nine to 2,144 and Ashford down three to 1,513.

Significant rises in claimant counts were also recorded in Dover, up 39 to 2,183, Maidstone up 26 to 1,925 and Tunbridge Wells, up 22 to 762.

Modest rises were seen in Tonbridge and Malling, up 14 to 1,125 and Canterbury, up seven to 1,828.

However, the unemployment rate in the three months to January was lowest in the South East at 5.2%.

The claimant count rate was also lowest in the region at 2%.

Nationally, UK unemployment fell by 63,000 to 2.33m over the same period, with the jobless rate at 7.2%.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance fell by 34,600 in February to 1.17m.

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