A free jobs fair runs at Banbury Town Hall on Wednesday 30 September, 10am to 1pm. Cherwell's claimant count rose 105 in August, its sharpest rise since 2024.
Banbury Jobs Fair returns to the Town Hall on Wednesday 30 September, from 10am to 1pm. Entry is free and there is no booking. Cherwell District Council is running it with Jobcentre Plus, and announced it on 23 September.
The venue is Banbury Town Hall, Bridge Street, OX16 5QB. The council says everyone is welcome, whether they are after a first job, returning to work, changing career or trying to move up in the job they have.
Employers will be there from retail, hospitality, manufacturing, health and social care, construction, education, and transport and logistics. Alongside them will be:
- training providers offering apprenticeships and skills courses
- organisations with specialist support for young people and for people over 50
- signposting on mental wellbeing
- volunteering opportunities
- help with writing a CV
It lands in a month when the local jobs numbers moved the wrong way.
Cherwell’s claimant count rose 105 in August
There were 2,525 people claiming out-of-work benefits in the Cherwell district in August 2026, or 2.3 per cent of residents aged 16 to 64. In July the figure was 2,420.
That rise of 105 in a single month is the district’s sharpest since July 2024, when the count jumped 165. It ends four consecutive monthly falls.
Set against a year earlier, the picture is different. August 2025 was 2,555, so the count is down 30 on the year. Cherwell is the only one of Oxfordshire’s five districts where that is true.
| District | Aug 2026 | Rate | On the month | On the year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oxford | 3,120 | 2.6% | +80 | +110 |
| Cherwell | 2,525 | 2.3% | +105 | -30 |
| Vale of White Horse | 1,835 | 2.0% | +40 | +40 |
| South Oxfordshire | 1,750 | 1.8% | -10 | 0 |
| West Oxfordshire | 1,360 | 1.9% | +50 | +95 |
| Oxfordshire | 10,590 | 2.2% | +265 | +215 |
| United Kingdom | 1,698,450 | 3.9% | +38,415 | +34,870 |
So Cherwell had the biggest one-month rise in Oxfordshire in people, and is still the only district below where it was last August. Both things are true at once, and a single month is not a trend.
The figures come from the ONS claimant count on nomis, not seasonally adjusted. The measure counts people claiming benefits mainly because they are out of work. It is not the unemployment rate, which is measured by survey and runs higher. The counts are rounded to the nearest five.
The two groups the fair singles out are both up
The council named young people and the over-50s as the groups getting specialist support at the fair. In Cherwell, both went up in August:
- 18 to 24 year olds: 375, up 25 on July and up 5 on August 2025
- Aged 50 and over: 620, up 20 on July and up 15 on August 2025
The council also says “recent analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research ranked Cherwell sixth in the country for employment opportunities for young people”. The IPPR published its local youth opportunity index on 16 September. It measures online job adverts likely to suit entry-level applicants, from July 2025 to June 2026, against the number of 18 to 24 year olds living in each area. The IPPR’s own release names only the highest area, the Cotswolds at 288 suitable vacancies per 1,000 young adults, and the lowest, Rotherham at 46. We could not confirm Cherwell’s sixth place from the published material, so treat that ranking as the council’s figure rather than ours.
A correction to our July figure
When we reported the July claimant count on 23 August, nomis gave Cherwell 2,475 for that month. The ONS has since revised July down to 2,420. Our ward-by-ward breakdown from that story still stands for the shape of the district, where Banbury Ruscote ran at 4.4 per cent and Deddington at 1.2 per cent. The district total for July has moved, and the figures on this page are the current ones. Revisions of this size are normal in this series, which is one reason to read the direction rather than the decimal point.
What it means for you
- The fair is free, drop-in and three hours long. Wednesday 30 September, 10am to 1pm, Banbury Town Hall, Bridge Street.
- Take a CV, and take it unfinished. CV help is one of the services on offer, so a draft is more use than nothing.
- If you are over 50 or under 25, say so at the door. Those are the two groups with dedicated support at this event.
- Parking in town is not free in the evening from Monday 28 September, but the fair runs in the morning, when the usual daytime tariffs apply. What each Banbury car park costs.
- The Town Hall is on Bridge Street in the middle of town, a short walk from the bus station and about ten minutes from Banbury station.
Next month’s claimant figures, for September, are due from the ONS in the middle of October. We will publish them when they land.
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