The number of people signing on the dole in Oxfordshire has taken its biggest leap for at least 20 years.

Shock Government figures show 1,538 more people claimed Jobseekers’ Allow-ance in February than the previous month, bringing the total number of claimants in the county to 8,444 – a rise of 22 per cent in a single month.

And the statistics, based on a snapshot of the situation taken on February 12, came too early to include the 850 agency workers who lost their jobs in the second half of last month at the BMW Mini car plant in Cowley.

Nationally, the total number of people out of work, including those not eligible for benefit, jumped by 165,000 in the quarter to January to 2.03 million, the worst figure since the Labour Government came to power in the summer of 1997. The quarterly rise was the highest since 1991 The number of people out of work in Oxfordshire is now higher than at any time since February 1997, when 8,649 people were on the dole.

The leap in the number of claimants is the highest since the Oxford Mail began compiling records in 1989.

But the statistics came as no surprise to Jamie Macfarlane, who lost his agency job at BMW on January 29.

Mr Macfarlane, 28, who lives with partner Jenny De Almeida, 26, and daughter Matilda, 16 months, in Bennett Crescent, Cowley, said: “We have had the bailiffs in over an outstanding council tax bill from a previous address, and they’re completely merciless.

“If it weren’t for help from my father, we would be out on the street now. I really don’t know how people who don’t have support from their families could survive.

“I get Jobseekers’ Allow-ance of £60 a week but housing benefit and council tax benefit has still not come through.

“There don’t seem to be any jobs out there for me. I usually don’t even get a response when I apply and I reckon there about five people going for every vacancy.”

Oxford East MP Andrew Smith said: “It’s important to remember that behind each and every unemployment statistic is a real person and their family, and it’s a deeply worrying time for them.

“That’s why it’s right that the Government takes all steps possible both to help individuals back into jobs, and to help with housing costs, so they can keep their home while looking for another job.”

West Oxfordshire saw the greatest percentage monthly rise in claimants, of 30.3 per cent, from 788 in January to 1,027 in February, while Oxford showed the smallest increase, of 15.5 per cent, up from 2,208 to 2,550 claimants.

South Oxfordshire saw a 21.4 per cent month-on-month increase, from 1,177 to 1,429, and Cherwell a 26.1 per cent rise, from 1,704 to 2,148 The Vale of White Horse, which in January recorded the highest percentage year-on-year jump in the UK – 150 per cent – saw yet another increase in February.

The number of claimants in the Vale jumped 25.3 per cent over the January figure, from 1,029 to 1,290 — and has now risen by 210 per cent since February last year, when just 416 people were receiving Jobseekers’ Allowance.