THE number of people claiming out-of-work benefits has dropped again.

The latest job figures for July showed that the claimant count was 1,095, compared to 1,115 in June and 80 less than the same time last year.

There were 240 claimants aged 18 to 24, which is 20 fewer than last month and the same time last year.

The July figures do not reflect any workers from Gelpack who may have started claiming after 175 redundancies were made, as the redundancies were made in August.

Kirsty Dee, a Jobcentre leader, said: "We have done a lot to make sure we were ready to support them (the people who were made redundant).

"We had extra resources to take on new claims. We held a last minute's job fair in the Hereford Jobcentre and had a lot of employers who offer a similar type of work."