Fear that out of work freelancers not receiving support

This brings the total to 2.46 million. There was however a rise of 23,000 people claiming benefits over the last quarter.

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation believes this to be a good sign that employer confidence is indeed returning to the jobs market. The TUC, on the other hand, feels that this is mere deception and the jobs market is only looking healthy because of an increase in the use of temporary and part-time workers.

The Chief Executive of the REC, Kevin Green, pointed out that for a lot of people, working in a temporary position helps home their skills and experience thus making permanent work more accessible. He also believes that some of the increase in part-time work is due to employers giving workers shorter hours rather than making them redundant.

The CIPD is not so optimistic saying that these figures show that the UK job market is still very weak. He also stressed that separate analysis by the ONS showed that 2.8 million UK workers are 'underemployed'.

And workers in the 50 plus age group are not seeing any improvement in their prospects as they continue to face redundancy and long-term unemployment according to the charities Age Concern and Help the Aged.

The chief economist at the BCC, David Kern, emphasised the need for the government to support businesses and scrap the proposed rise in employer NI contributions and replace it with a 1% rise in VAT.

It also appears that staff in Jobcentres are not doing enough to help jobseekers, according to an internal report. A lack of proper training has meant that some staff are not aware of what support is available especially towards jobseekers in professional fields. Some staff members are also confused as to when they should impose sanctions on jobseekers who are not actively looking for work.

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Image: It's a dead end baby by Andrew Mason