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 2026-27 prices, using CPI inflation, adjusted for inflation so that years can be compared.

Total, low to high

Under £664.7m
£664.7m to £1.1bn
£1.1bn to £1.5bn
£1.5bn to £1.9bn
£1.9bn to £2.3bn
£2.3bn 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. 2026-27 prices, using CPI inflation.

What changed: State Pension
February 2023	£119.8bn
Population	+£2.5bn
Share claiming	+£5.2bn
Payment size	+£16.3bn
March 2026	£143.9bn

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. 2026-27 prices, using CPI 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	£5.7bn	£4,844
2	Leeds	£3.4bn	£4,006
3	Glasgow City	£3.4bn	£5,183	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
4	Cornwall	£2.9bn	£5,013
5	County Durham	£2.9bn	£5,374
6	North Yorkshire	£2.9bn	£4,532
7	Somerset	£2.8bn	£4,714
8	Liverpool	£2.8bn	£5,426
9	Sheffield	£2.6bn	£4,489
10	Bradford	£2.6bn	£4,620
11	Manchester	£2.5bn	£4,175
12	Wiltshire	£2.2bn	£4,157
13	Buckinghamshire	£2.1bn	£3,632
14	Dorset	£2.0bn	£5,239
15	City of Edinburgh	£2.0bn	£3,720	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
16	Kirklees	£2.0bn	£4,375
17	Fife	£1.9bn	£5,001	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
18	Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole	£1.9bn	£4,593
19	Wirral	£1.8bn	£5,585
20	Bristol, City of	£1.8bn	£3,669
21	Enfield	£1.8bn	£5,420
22	North Lanarkshire	£1.8bn	£5,214	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
23	Cheshire East	£1.8bn	£4,201
24	Croydon	£1.7bn	£4,269
25	Barnet	£1.7bn	£4,280
26	Wakefield	£1.7bn	£4,708
27	Northumberland	£1.7bn	£5,180
28	Brent	£1.7bn	£4,711
29	East Riding of Yorkshire	£1.7bn	£4,682
30	West Northamptonshire	£1.7bn	£3,758
31	South Lanarkshire	£1.7bn	£4,977	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
32	Cheshire West and Chester	£1.6bn	£4,448
33	Ealing	£1.6bn	£4,241
34	Cardiff	£1.6bn	£4,260
35	Wigan	£1.6bn	£4,657
36	Sunderland	£1.6bn	£5,552
37	Sandwell	£1.6bn	£4,467
38	Sefton	£1.6bn	£5,491
39	Doncaster	£1.6bn	£4,882
40	Dudley	£1.5bn	£4,677
41	North Northamptonshire	£1.5bn	£4,101
42	Shropshire	£1.5bn	£4,619
43	Coventry	£1.5bn	£4,114
44	Newham	£1.5bn	£3,881
45	Leicester	£1.5bn	£3,794
46	Nottingham	£1.5bn	£4,433
47	Bolton	£1.4bn	£4,621
48	Walsall	£1.4bn	£4,829
49	Rotherham	£1.4bn	£5,083
50	Cumberland	£1.4bn	£4,915

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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