There has been a sizeable drop in the number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance in Sittingbourne and Sheppey.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics show that in April, the total number of claimants was 1,524 – down 113 on March.

On the Island, 65 people left the dole, while in Sittingbourne the number was 48.

Job Centre manager Mark Hurry said: “These are some of the lowest unemployment rates we’ve had in a long time.

“I think it’s because there’s lots of vacancies in the area. Across the board, people are wanting to return to work.

“We’ve got good advisers, who are working closer with people. Everything seems to be slotting into place.

“When people make a claim for benefits the rules are made quite clear.

“We have no targets for sanctions or anything like that. For me, it is about people wanting to return to work. So I don’t think people are scared and think their benefits will be cut.”

Across the county, there were 759 fewer claimants, bringing Kent’s total to 18,646.

Every local authority in the county recorded a fall. However, the figure has still not recovered to the seven-year low recorded in December after two months of rises as Christmas jobs came to an end.

The largest decline was in Thanet, where 131 people left the dole queue, bringing the total to 2,718, the second highest in Kent.

Maidstone was also a strong performer, with 114 people ending jobseeker’s allowance – bringing the claimant count to 1,213.

However, the fall in benefit claimants in Medway, which has Kent’s highest total, at 3,856, was just 45.

The South East has the lowest unemployment rate in the country, at 4.2%.

Across Britain unemployment fell by 35,000 between January and March to 1.83 million.

Overall, the unemployment rate fell to 5.5% from 5.7%.