How does my area compare?

Birmingham has the highest total benefit spending in 2024-25.

All the benefits on this site: pensioner, disability, carer, working-age and housing benefits paid by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). In Scotland, it includes the Social Security Scotland benefits that replace some of them. Shown in cash terms, not adjusted for inflation.

Total, low to high

Under £627.8m
£627.8m to £1.0bn
£1.0bn to £1.4bn
£1.4bn to £1.8bn
£1.8bn to £2.2bn
£2.2bn and over

Estimated value

Benefit spending, total, 2024-25, by local authority. Boundaries are simplified. London is also shown larger, in a separate box. Northern Ireland is not covered. Every value is in the table below.

More ways to look at itHow ranks change, why spending changed, and spending compared with the expected level

Total or per person

Does the order change when you count per person?

Each line is one of the 348 ranked local authorities. It joins the area's rank for each way of counting. The 10 highest total are drawn in dark lines.

What changed

More people, more claims or bigger payments?

Great Britain, State Pension: yearly spending at the rate in February 2023 and in March 2026. The chart splits the change into three parts: the number of people in the age group, the share of them claiming, and the average payment. Cash terms, not adjusted for inflation.

What changed: State Pension
February 2023	£104.6bn
Population	+£2.3bn
Share claiming	+£4.8bn
Payment size	+£28.8bn
March 2026	£140.6bn

The share claiming is the number of people claiming per person aged 66 and over. Yearly spending here is the number claiming, times the average weekly payment, times 52. It is not the amount paid out over the year. Population after mid-2024 stays at the mid-2024 figure, so later growth shows in the share claiming.

Compared with similar areas

Is spending higher or lower than expected?

Benefit spending per resident, 2024-25. We compare it with the level we would expect from each area's share of children and of people aged 66 and over, how deprived it is compared with the rest of its nation, and the typical pay of people who live there. Cash terms, not adjusted for inflation.

Expected level = £765 − £935 × share aged 0 to 15 + £9,046 × share aged 66 and over − £177 × deprivation decile + £267 × ln(median pay) + £581 × Wales + £224 × Scotland. Fitted by ordinary least squares across 346 local authorities. R² = 0.87. Gold dots are above the expected level and grey dots are below it.

Every local authority

Benefit spending, 2024-25. Rank is for total, and 1 is the highest. Areas with fewer than 1,000 people in the age group have no rank. The first 50 of 350 rows are shown.

Benefit spending for every local authority, 2024-25
Rank				Notes
1	Birmingham	£5.4bn	£4,575
2	Leeds	£3.2bn	£3,784
3	Glasgow City	£3.2bn	£4,895	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
4	Cornwall	£2.8bn	£4,735
5	County Durham	£2.7bn	£5,076
6	North Yorkshire	£2.7bn	£4,281
7	Somerset	£2.6bn	£4,453
8	Liverpool	£2.6bn	£5,125
9	Sheffield	£2.5bn	£4,240
10	Bradford	£2.4bn	£4,364
11	Manchester	£2.3bn	£3,943
12	Wiltshire	£2.1bn	£3,927
13	Buckinghamshire	£2.0bn	£3,431
14	Dorset	£1.9bn	£4,948
15	City of Edinburgh	£1.9bn	£3,514	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
16	Kirklees	£1.8bn	£4,133
17	Fife	£1.8bn	£4,723	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
18	Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole	£1.8bn	£4,338
19	Wirral	£1.7bn	£5,276
20	Bristol, City of	£1.7bn	£3,465
21	Enfield	£1.7bn	£5,120
22	North Lanarkshire	£1.7bn	£4,925	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
23	Cheshire East	£1.7bn	£3,968
24	Croydon	£1.6bn	£4,032
25	Barnet	£1.6bn	£4,042
26	Wakefield	£1.6bn	£4,446
27	Northumberland	£1.6bn	£4,893
28	Brent	£1.6bn	£4,450
29	East Riding of Yorkshire	£1.6bn	£4,422
30	West Northamptonshire	£1.6bn	£3,549
31	South Lanarkshire	£1.6bn	£4,701	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
32	Cheshire West and Chester	£1.6bn	£4,201
33	Ealing	£1.6bn	£4,006
34	Cardiff	£1.5bn	£4,024
35	Wigan	£1.5bn	£4,399
36	Sunderland	£1.5bn	£5,244
37	Sandwell	£1.5bn	£4,219
38	Sefton	£1.5bn	£5,187
39	Doncaster	£1.5bn	£4,612
40	Dudley	£1.5bn	£4,418
41	North Northamptonshire	£1.5bn	£3,874
42	Shropshire	£1.4bn	£4,363
43	Coventry	£1.4bn	£3,886
44	Newham	£1.4bn	£3,665
45	Leicester	£1.4bn	£3,583
46	Nottingham	£1.4bn	£4,187
47	Bolton	£1.3bn	£4,365
48	Walsall	£1.3bn	£4,561
49	Rotherham	£1.3bn	£4,801
50	Cumberland	£1.3bn	£4,643

League table of every local authority for the latest period

Values are total unless a column says otherwise. Sources: Department for Work and Pensions, Social Security Scotland, Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland.

Every measureThe full list, as plain links

Does the order change when you count per person?

More people, more claims or bigger payments?

Is spending higher or lower than expected?

Every local authority

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