Thousands of people will lose their jobs over the next two years as the deepening economic downturn forces more companies to cut staff, City experts said yesterday.

After figures revealed the steepest jump in the number of people out of work for two years, economists said the scale and pace of job losses would accelerate sharply in the coming months.

The mounting toll of jobs as economic conditions worsen was highlighted by official figures showing that the number of people claiming unemployment benefits had leapt by 24,400 since February. The number of people receiving state support rose by 9,000 last month, on the heels of a 11,200 jump in April that constituted the biggest increase for two years. This pushed the total to 819,300, up from a low of 794,900 in January.

An alternative measure of unemployment, based on a monthly survey of a section of the population and preferred by ministers who regard it as a closer reflection of labour trends, also jumped.

A new report out today says there is a “significant lack of understanding” within Government of the Church of England’s huge contribution to social welfare provision.

A dossier of abuse of the human rights of children and young people in Britain will be presented to United Nations inspectors today in a joint submission from the four children’s commissioners for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

They will report widespread infringements of the UN convention on the rights of the child (UNCRC) that have denied hope and opportunity to many of Britain’s 14 million children and adolescents. The most serious defects include:

· A punitive juvenile justice system;
· Public attitudes that demonise teenagers;
· Lack of protection against physical punishment in the home;
· One of the highest levels of child poverty in Europe.

The commissioners will submit their complaints to a UN review of children’s rights in Britain, which is due to examine whether any improvements have been made over the past five years.

A disabled man was murdered in his bed by his former care worker so she could obtain a £60,000 inheritance, a court was told.

Thelma Purchase is said to have recruited her son Lance Rudge, and his friend, Shane Edge, both 20, to murder Gregory Baker because she “wouldn’t wait” for the money he had promised her in his will.

Mr Baker, 61, was found suffocated at his cottage in the village of Alton, Staffordshire, by a carer paying a routine visit on June 16 last year.

The court heard how childhood polio left Mr Baker with weakness in his left arm and right leg, and he later developed muscular dystrophy, so carers would visit his cottage three times a day to help him with daily tasks.

Ms Purchase had been his main care worker, and remained his friend after she stopped working with him some years ago, jurors were told.