The UK’s jobless rate ticked up to 4.6% in April while payrolled employment has fallen sharply since, according to official figures covering the period when budget tax hikes on businesses came into effect.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the new unemployment rate covering the three months to April was the highest since July 2021.

It had previously stood at 4.5% – a total of more than 1.6 million people.

At 4.6%, it is above the peak level predicted for this year, just in March, by the Office for Budget Responsibility.

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Figures from the taxman also highlighted by the ONS showed the number of people in payrolled employment during May fell by 109,000 – double April’s revised figure of 55,000 and the biggest monthly drop in five years.

The ONS Labour Force Survey data was the first to cover April’s rises in employer national insurance contributions and the national living wage – hikes to costs for businesses which lobby groups had warned would result in job losses, price rises and lower wage settlements.

The ONS figures showed average weekly earnings, excluding the effects of bonuses, over the three months to April were weaker, from a downwardly revised 5.5% to 5.2% year on year.

Liz McKeown, ONS director of economic statistics, said: “There continues to be weakening in the labour market, with the number of people on payroll falling notably.

“Feedback from our vacancies survey suggests some firms may be holding back from recruiting new workers or replacing people when they move on.”

The ONS data piles more pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves, just a day after she confirmed her winter fuel U-turn would cost £1.25bn.

She has consistently defenced her budget, arguing the taxes on business were a one-off necessary evil to account for a £22bn “black hole” in the public finances inherited from the last government.

Employment minister Alison McGovern said in response to the data: “Six months after we launched Get Britain Working, we are already seeing the benefits with economic activity at a record high, with 500,000 more people in employment since we entered office and real wages growing more since July than in the decade after 2010.

“People all over the country are benefiting from increased training opportunities and the newly launched Jobs and Careers Service will allow us to test new and innovative approaches to personalise employment support.”

Despite the wage figure easing, that 5.2% level remains comfortably ahead of the 3.5% rate of the pace of price growth – inflation.

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The curb to consumer spending power will be welcomed by the Bank of England as its rate-setters continue to fret that strong wage growth represents an inflation risk ahead.

The ONS figures did little to boost financial market expectations of a further rate cut next month.

LSEG data showed 90% of market participants believed there would be no no change – with just one further cut this year being fully priced in.

Wood Group, the troubled London-listed oil services company, is racing to finalise a cut-price takeover by a Gulf-based rival by the end of the month.

Sky News has learnt that Wood and Sidara, its UAE-based suitor, are to request an extension to a ‘put up or shut up’ deadline on Thursday for the latter to make a firm offer.

The joint request to the Takeover Panel, which is expected to be granted, is likely to involve a shorter extension than the maximum 28 days allowed under City rules, reflecting the companies’ confidence that a deal will be agreed.

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Wood and Sidara are aiming to get a binding transaction agreed by 30 June, when a waiver of Wood’s lending covenants is due to expire, according to industry insiders.

A public statement is likely to be made on Thursday.

Sidara tabled a 35p-a-share offer for Wood in April which valued the Aberdeen-based target at just over £242m.

It came less than a year after it proposed a deal worth about £1.5bn, after which Wood’s shares collapsed in the wake of revelations about its past financial results and corporate governance.

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The company’s shares have been suspended since the beginning of last month.

Wood was also the subject of an earlier takeover approach from Apollo Global Management, the private equity firm.

A spokesman for Wood declined to comment.

Marks & Spencer (M&S) has resumed some online clothes orders six weeks after a damaging cyberattack that the retailer has warned will cost it hundreds of millions of pounds.

“Select fashion ranges” are available again for the first time in 46 days for customers across Britain.

M&S said that people in Northern Ireland were still missing out as its online operations got back in gear.

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Ransomware hackers broke into its systems in April by tricking employees at a third-party contractor, skirting its digital defences, according to the company.

“We are bringing back online shopping this week,” said John Lyttle, managing director of fashion, home and beauty.

“A selection of our best-selling fashion ranges will be available for home delivery to England, Scotland and Wales.

“More of our fashion, home and beauty products will be added every day and we will resume deliveries to Northern Ireland and Click and Collect in the coming weeks.”

M&S stopped taking clothing and home orders through its website and app on 25 April.

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Three days earlier, it said it was managing a “cyber incident”, with problems for its contactless pay and click and collect services over the Easter holiday weekend.

Last month, M&S said it expected online disruption to continue into July and forecast the attack would cost it £300m.

However, it expected insurance would cover some of those losses.

The company has refused to say if it has paid any ransom to the hackers.