Who Gets What

How does my area compare?

Broxbourne has the highest spending on State Pension per person aged 66 and over in 2024-25.

The State Pension, paid from State Pension age. It includes the new State Pension and the older basic and additional pensions. Shown in 2026-27 prices, using CPI inflation, adjusted for inflation so that years can be compared.

Spending on State Pension, per person aged 66 and over, 2024-25, by local authority

Per person aged 66 and over, low to high

  1. Under £10,439
  2. £10,439 to £10,749
  3. £10,749 to £11,059
  4. £11,059 to £11,369
  5. £11,369 to £11,680
  6. £11,680 and over
Spending on State Pension, 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 over1348Broxbourne 1Redditch 2St Albans 3Chelmsford 4Hinckley and Bosworth 5East Hertfordshire 6Central Bedfordshire 7Tonbridge and Malling 8Blaby 9Guildford 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.

£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 State Pension, 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 State Pension for every local authority, 2024-25
RankNotes
1Broxbourne£203.1m£1,993£12,177
2Redditch£193.2m£2,203£12,104
3St Albans£305.0m£2,023£12,078
4Chelmsford£416.0m£2,209£12,069
5Hinckley and Bosworth£304.6m£2,612£12,060
6East Hertfordshire£338.5m£2,159£12,060
7Central Bedfordshire£650.8m£2,059£12,002
8Tonbridge and Malling£302.0m£2,209£11,990
9Blaby£251.7m£2,334£11,980
10Guildford£295.2m£1,946£11,965
11Basildon£371.6m£1,927£11,961
12Hart£240.8m£2,337£11,958
13Gravesham£210.4m£1,901£11,955
14Rochford£234.7m£2,622£11,943
15Dacorum£322.3m£2,000£11,940
16Wokingham£368.2m£1,964£11,935
17Tandridge£218.8m£2,429£11,919
18Tamworth£177.2m£2,191£11,917
19Uttlesford£227.9m£2,400£11,904
20North Hertfordshire£309.2m£2,260£11,903
21Harlow£157.3m£1,603£11,899
22Welwyn Hatfield£222.6m£1,809£11,892
23Three Rivers£199.6m£2,089£11,889
24West Berkshire£377.3m£2,288£11,889
25Huntingdonshire£438.8m£2,305£11,882
26North West Leicestershire£251.9m£2,251£11,877
27Erewash£272.2m£2,392£11,876
28Bracknell Forest£233.3m£1,788£11,872
29Charnwood£409.6m£2,175£11,871
30Buckinghamshire£1.2bn£2,144£11,868
31Horsham£403.0m£2,667£11,854
32West Northamptonshire£860.5m£1,950£11,844
33Calderdale£460.7m£2,196£11,843
34High Peak£236.7m£2,576£11,842
35Brentwood£180.0m£2,280£11,839
36Warwick£331.0m£2,128£11,838
37Sevenoaks£305.5m£2,491£11,836
38Bromley£673.8m£2,013£11,831
39Falkirk£355.2m£2,222£11,821
40Broxtowe£278.4m£2,439£11,819
41Medway£534.9m£1,834£11,819
42Mole Valley£244.5m£2,762£11,816
43Maldon£201.0m£2,911£11,812
44Spelthorne£213.2m£2,003£11,812
45Stockport£684.9m£2,267£11,811
46North Northamptonshire£769.0m£2,049£11,806
47South Lanarkshire£769.0m£2,309£11,805
48Dudley£751.4m£2,269£11,800
49West Dunbartonshire£203.6m£2,292£11,800
50West Lothian£368.5m£1,980£11,799

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, 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