Unemployment has risen in Cumbria, for the the third month in a row.

There were 4,965 job hunters claiming Jobseeker's Allowance or Universal Credit last month, 1.6 per cent of the workforce, up from a restated figure of 4,710 in January.

The claimant count rose in all of the county's six districts.

Copeland saw the highest rise in claimants; the number there rose by 75 to 1,065 (2.5 per cent). Carlisle was next with a rise of 50 to 920 (1.4 per cent), followed by Allerdale where the rise was 45 to 1,190 (two per cent) then Barrow with a rise of 35 to 1,160 (2.8 per cent).

South Lakeland saw a rise of 30 to 395 (0.7 per cent) and Eden was the best performer with a rise of 20 to 235 (0.7 per cent).

Overall there were 110 more claimants in Cumbria than at the same time in 2016.

Helen Collinson, employment partnership manager for Westmorland and south with Jobcentre Plus, said the roll out of Universal Credit was having an impact on statistics.

This replaces payments including Tax Credits and Housing Benefit, so some people in work will now appear in the unemployment figures.

She said: "As more areas roll out that full service, figures are going to increase month-on-month until things settle down."

Nationally figures showed that unemployment fell by 31,000 in the three months to January, to 1.58m, the lowest for a decade, giving a jobless rate of 4.7 per cent, the lowest since the summer of 1975.

Almost 32m people are now in work, a jump of 92,000 over the quarter and 315,000 compared with a year earlier.

The number of people on the claimant count, including Jobseeker's Allowance and those on Universal Credit required to seek work, fell by 11,300 last month to 734,700, the lowest since May 1975.

David Freeman, senior statistician at the ONS, said: "With the unemployment rate last lower in summer 1975 and the employment rate still at a record high, the labour market remains robust."