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

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 £12,330
  2. £12,330 to £12,579
  3. £12,579 to £12,829
  4. £12,829 to £13,078
  5. £13,078 to £13,327
  6. £13,327 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. 2026-27 prices, using CPI inflation.

Benefit
£119.8bnFebruary 2023+£2.5bnPopulation+£5.2bnShare claiming+£16.3bnPayment size£143.9bnMarch 2026
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?

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. 2026-27 prices, using CPI 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£1.2bn£1,814£14,008Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
2Islington£280.0m£1,238£13,998
3Hackney£287.2m£1,069£13,824
4Hartlepool£253.7m£2,593£13,818
5Liverpool£998.3m£1,964£13,669
6Knowsley£359.2m£2,221£13,662
7North Lanarkshire£811.6m£2,362£13,651Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
8Tower Hamlets£245.3m£730£13,575
9Broxbourne£225.9m£2,217£13,545
10West Dunbartonshire£232.9m£2,622£13,501Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
11Caerphilly£464.9m£2,638£13,440
12Manchester£685.7m£1,165£13,402
13Salford£463.8m£1,580£13,385
14Blaenau Gwent£176.5m£2,606£13,351
15South Tyneside£407.0m£2,700£13,336
16Harlow£176.2m£1,796£13,328
17Lambeth£369.8m£1,160£13,324
18Southwark£351.5m£1,109£13,321
19Basildon£413.7m£2,146£13,317
20Merthyr Tydfil£144.0m£2,453£13,297
21Walsall£633.0m£2,148£13,265
22Gravesham£233.4m£2,109£13,263
23Halton£314.7m£2,398£13,261
24Redditch£211.7m£2,413£13,260
25South Lanarkshire£863.5m£2,593£13,256Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
26Oldham£493.5m£1,968£13,254
27Stoke-on-Trent£574.9m£2,129£13,250
28Torfaen£249.4m£2,653£13,250
29Haringey£369.1m£1,375£13,248
30Sandwell£635.2m£1,798£13,246
31Neath Port Talbot£389.1m£2,728£13,232
32Rhondda Cynon Taf£605.3m£2,503£13,229
33Rochdale£479.3m£2,040£13,224
34Gateshead£515.2m£2,558£13,212
35Sunderland£742.3m£2,589£13,209
36Newport£348.6m£2,083£13,192
37St. Helens£482.7m£2,562£13,178
38Thurrock£303.8m£1,676£13,170
39Dundee City£339.8m£2,275£13,168Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
40Dudley£838.0m£2,530£13,161
41Nottingham£481.6m£1,457£13,156
42Hyndburn£192.6m£2,242£13,154
43Pendle£226.2m£2,270£13,152
44Swansea£633.5m£2,528£13,140
45East Ayrshire£331.1m£2,729£13,125Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
46Camden£324.3m£1,470£13,124
47Coventry£633.2m£1,717£13,119
48Bridgend£393.2m£2,673£13,115
49Tamworth£195.0m£2,412£13,114
50Tameside£519.5m£2,175£13,113

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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