How does my area compare?

Hartlepool has the highest spending on Carer's Allowance and Carer Support Payment per person aged 16 to 64 in 2024-25.

Money for people who care for a disabled person for at least 35 hours a week. In Scotland, Carer Support Payment replaces Carer's Allowance. Shown in 2026-27 prices, using CPI inflation, adjusted for inflation so that years can be compared.

Spending on Carer's Allowance and Carer Support Payment, per person aged 16 to 64, 2024-25, by local authority

Per person aged 16 to 64, low to high

  1. Under £79
  2. £79 to £105
  3. £105 to £130
  4. £130 to £156
  5. £156 to £181
  6. £181 and over
  • Estimated value
Spending on Carer's Allowance and Carer Support Payment, per person aged 16 to 64, 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 350 ranked local authorities. It joins the area's rank for each way of counting. The 10 highest per person aged 16 to 64 are drawn in dark lines.

TotalPer residentPer person aged 16 to 641350Hartlepool 1Bradford 2Merthyr Tydfil 3Neath Port Talbot 4Knowsley 5Sunderland 6Rotherham 7East Lindsey 8Redcar and Cleveland 9Blaenau Gwent 10

What changed

More people, more claims or bigger payments?

Great Britain, Carer's Allowance and Carer Support Payment: 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.

£3.5bnFebruary 2023+£40.8mPopulation+£578.3mShare claiming+£257.4mPayment size£4.4bnMarch 2026
What changed: Carer's Allowance and Carer Support Payment
February 2023£3.5bn
Population+£40.8m
Share claiming+£578.3m
Payment size+£257.4m
March 2026£4.4bn
The share claiming is the number of people claiming per person aged 16 to 64. 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. Scottish areas are left out because Social Security Scotland pays this benefit.

Compared with similar areas

Is spending higher or lower than expected?

Spending on working-age benefits per person aged 16 to 64, 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.

Chart step
This chart needs JavaScript. Each area's expected level is on its area page.
Expected level = −£567 + £3,670 × share aged 0 to 15 − £115 × share aged 66 and over − £170 × deprivation decile + £257 × ln(median pay) + £432 × Wales + £94 × Scotland. Fitted by ordinary least squares across 348 local authorities. R² = 0.85. Gold dots are above the expected level and grey dots are below it.

Every local authority

Spending on Carer's Allowance and Carer Support Payment, 2024-25. Rank is for per person aged 16 to 64, 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 Carer's Allowance and Carer Support Payment for every local authority, 2024-25
RankNotes
1Hartlepool£14.1m£144£235
2Bradford£77.2m£138£222
3Merthyr Tydfil£7.8m£134£217
4Neath Port Talbot£18.7m£131£215
5Knowsley£21.5m£133£212
6Sunderland£37.3m£130£210
7Rotherham£35.6m£129£210
8East Lindsey£16.3m£112£207
9Redcar and Cleveland£16.8m£121£207
10Blaenau Gwent£8.5m£126£204
11Walsall£36.6m£124£202
12Great Yarmouth£11.8m£117£201
13Tendring£17.0m£109£199
14South Tyneside£18.1m£120£198
15Blackpool£17.4m£121£197
16Middlesbrough£19.0m£123£194
17Thanet£15.8m£111£190
18Barnsley£29.1m£116£188
19County Durham£61.6m£115£186
20Pendle£11.2m£112£186
21Oldham£28.7m£114£185
22Caerphilly£19.9m£113£184
23Blackburn with Darwen£18.8m£116£184
24Sandwell£40.8m£115£181
25Birmingham£140.3m£119£181
26Burnley£11.0m£111£180
27Denbighshire£10.0m£103£179
28North Ayrshire£14.2m£106£178Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
29Swale£17.3m£109£177
30St. Helens£20.6m£109£177
31North East Lincolnshire£16.9m£106£177
32Rhondda Cynon Taf£26.1m£108£174
33Stockton-on-Tees£21.9m£106£174
34Halton£14.1m£107£173
35Ashfield£13.7m£106£172
36Wirral£33.5m£102£171
37Torfaen£9.7m£104£171
38Doncaster£33.6m£105£170
39East Ayrshire£12.5m£103£169Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
40Derby£29.3m£107£167
41Bolsover£8.7m£104£167
42Mansfield£11.6m£103£167
43Kingston upon Hull, City of£29.4m£107£166
44Liverpool£57.1m£112£166
45Inverclyde£8.0m£102£166Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
46Wolverhampton£29.1m£104£166
47Bridgend£14.8m£100£164
48Rochdale£23.9m£102£164
49Gateshead£20.4m£101£163
50Hyndburn£8.7m£101£163

League table of every local authority for the latest period

Values are per person aged 16 to 64 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

Choose a measure

Search benefit spending, people receiving benefits and income tax