One in five households in Exmouth and East Devon has no-one in work, figures show, the highest in Devon.

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The Office for National Statistics has released figures that reveal there were 8,000 ‘workless’ households, 19.6 per cent, in the district in 2011.

This puts East Devon joint top of the eight Devon district councils within the control of Devon County Council which excludes unitary councils Plymouth and Torbay.

The East Devon figure accounts for 53 per cent of the area’s total jobless households.

And the 19.6 per cent figure is significantly higher than the 15.1 per cent figure across the whole county council area.

The figures compare poorly to Teignbridge which also has 8,000 households with no one in work.

Because of the district’s higher population this accounts for 18.7 per cent, a lesser share, of the population. West Devon, Mid Devon and Torridge all have 3,000 households with nobody in employment, which accounts for 15.4 per cent, 15.2 per cent and 15.2 per cent of the households respectively.

Next is South Hams who have 4,000 jobless households, 13.7 per cent of the population and Exeter with 5,000, and 13.5 per cent of the population.

Sickness was the main reason given by people living in workless households – the high numbers of retired people may in some part account for the figures.