Who Gets What

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Glasgow City has the highest spending on pensioner benefits per person aged 66 and over in 2024-25.

State Pension, Pension Credit, Attendance Allowance and winter heating payments, with the Scottish benefits that replace them. Per person figures use people aged 66 and over, the State Pension age. Shown in cash terms, not adjusted for inflation.

Spending on pensioner benefits, per person aged 66 and over, 2024-25, by local authority

Per person aged 66 and over, low to high

  1. Under £11,646
  2. £11,646 to £11,881
  3. £11,881 to £12,117
  4. £12,117 to £12,352
  5. £12,352 to £12,588
  6. £12,588 and over
  • Estimated value
Spending on pensioner benefits, per person aged 66 and over, 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 per person aged 66 and over are drawn in dark lines.

TotalPer residentPer person aged 66 and over1348Glasgow City 1Islington 2Hackney 3Hartlepool 4Liverpool 5Knowsley 6North Lanarkshire 7Tower Hamlets 8Broxbourne 9West Dunbartonshire 10

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.

Benefit
£104.6bnFebruary 2023+£2.3bnPopulation+£4.8bnShare claiming+£28.8bnPayment size£140.6bnMarch 2026
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?

Spending on pensioner benefits per person aged 66 and over, 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.

Chart step
This chart needs JavaScript. Each area's expected level is on its area page.
Expected level = £12,909 + £3,353 × share aged 0 to 15 − £1,419 × share aged 66 and over − £40 × deprivation decile − £91 × ln(median pay) + £207 × Wales + £80 × Scotland. Fitted by ordinary least squares across 346 local authorities. R² = 0.35. Gold dots are above the expected level and grey dots are below it.

Every local authority

Spending on pensioner benefits, 2024-25. Rank is for per person aged 66 and over, 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.

Spending on pensioner benefits for every local authority, 2024-25
RankNotes
1Glasgow City£1.1bn£1,713£13,231Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
2Islington£264.4m£1,169£13,222
3Hackney£271.3m£1,010£13,057
4Hartlepool£239.7m£2,449£13,052
5Liverpool£943.0m£1,855£12,911
6Knowsley£339.3m£2,098£12,904
7North Lanarkshire£766.6m£2,231£12,894Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
8Tower Hamlets£231.7m£689£12,822
9Broxbourne£213.4m£2,094£12,794
10West Dunbartonshire£220.0m£2,477£12,752Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
11Caerphilly£439.1m£2,492£12,694
12Manchester£647.6m£1,100£12,659
13Salford£438.1m£1,492£12,642
14Blaenau Gwent£166.7m£2,462£12,610
15South Tyneside£384.4m£2,550£12,597
16Harlow£166.5m£1,696£12,588
17Lambeth£349.3m£1,095£12,584
18Southwark£332.0m£1,047£12,582
19Basildon£390.8m£2,027£12,578
20Merthyr Tydfil£136.0m£2,317£12,559
21Walsall£597.9m£2,029£12,529
22Gravesham£220.5m£1,992£12,527
23Halton£297.2m£2,265£12,526
24Redditch£199.9m£2,279£12,524
25South Lanarkshire£815.6m£2,449£12,521Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
26Oldham£466.1m£1,859£12,518
27Stoke-on-Trent£543.0m£2,011£12,515
28Torfaen£235.6m£2,505£12,515
29Haringey£348.6m£1,298£12,513
30Sandwell£600.0m£1,698£12,511
31Neath Port Talbot£367.5m£2,577£12,498
32Rhondda Cynon Taf£571.7m£2,364£12,495
33Rochdale£452.7m£1,927£12,491
34Gateshead£486.6m£2,416£12,479
35Sunderland£701.2m£2,446£12,476
36Newport£329.3m£1,967£12,460
37St. Helens£456.0m£2,420£12,447
38Thurrock£287.0m£1,583£12,440
39Dundee City£320.9m£2,149£12,437Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
40Dudley£791.6m£2,390£12,431
41Nottingham£454.9m£1,376£12,426
42Hyndburn£181.9m£2,117£12,425
43Pendle£213.7m£2,144£12,423
44Swansea£598.4m£2,388£12,411
45East Ayrshire£312.7m£2,578£12,397Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
46Camden£306.3m£1,389£12,396
47Coventry£598.1m£1,622£12,392
48Bridgend£371.4m£2,525£12,387
49Tamworth£184.2m£2,278£12,387
50Tameside£490.7m£2,054£12,386

League table of every local authority for the latest period

Values are per person aged 66 and over unless a column says otherwise. Sources: Department for Work and Pensions, Social Security Scotland, Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland.

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