Who Gets What

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Glasgow North East has the highest spending on Employment and Support Allowance per person aged 16 to 64 in 2023-24.

Money for people whose illness or disability limits how much they can work. Shown in 2026-27 prices, using CPI inflation, adjusted for inflation so that years can be compared.

Spending on Employment and Support Allowance, per person aged 16 to 64, 2023-24, by constituency

Per person aged 16 to 64, low to high

  1. Under £222
  2. £222 to £307
  3. £307 to £393
  4. £393 to £479
  5. £479 to £564
  6. £564 and over
Spending on Employment and Support Allowance, per person aged 16 to 64, 2023-24, by constituency. 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 632 ranked constituencies. 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 641632Glasgow North East 1Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney 2Liverpool Walton 3Rhondda and Ogmore 4Aberafan Maesteg 5Glasgow East 6Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare 7West Dunbartonshire 8Birkenhead 9Knowsley 10

What changed

More people, more claims or bigger payments?

Great Britain, Employment and Support Allowance: 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.

£13.4bnFebruary 2023+£93.6mPopulation−£6.2bnShare claiming−£2.1bnPayment size£5.2bnMarch 2026
What changed: Employment and Support Allowance
February 2023£13.4bn
Population+£93.6m
Share claiming−£6.2bn
Payment size−£2.1bn
March 2026£5.2bn
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.

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 = −£2,631 + £5,734 × share aged 0 to 15 + £551 × share aged 66 and over − £201 × deprivation decile + £429 × ln(median pay) + £353 × Wales + £111 × Scotland. Fitted by ordinary least squares across 626 constituencies. R² = 0.85. Gold dots are above the expected level and grey dots are below it.

Every constituency

Spending on Employment and Support Allowance, 2023-24. 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 632 rows are shown.

Spending on Employment and Support Allowance for every constituency, 2023-24
RankNotes
1Glasgow North East£68.8m£607£855
2Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney£47.7m£501£810
3Liverpool Walton£49.2m£480£755
4Rhondda and Ogmore£46.8m£464£749
5Aberafan Maesteg£41.7m£452£746
6Glasgow East£52.4m£508£724
7Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare£43.6m£435£709
8West Dunbartonshire£40.1m£438£698
9Birkenhead£44.8m£415£664
10Knowsley£40.6m£418£663
11Blackpool South£46.3m£415£663
12Liverpool West Derby£41.6m£416£659
13Glasgow South West£44.8m£448£654
14Bootle£42.3m£410£647
15Glasgow West£44.2m£437£622
16Llanelli£34.4m£361£608
17Easington£35.5m£372£603
18Coatbridge and Bellshill£37.1m£390£600
19Glenrothes and Mid Fife£34.0m£366£598
20Liverpool Riverside£58.0m£455£594
21North Ayrshire and Arran£31.6m£348£588
22Nottingham North and Kimberley£39.7m£364£588
23Clwyd North£33.8m£336£587
24Wallasey£34.3m£352£583
25Caerphilly£34.5m£357£583
26Paisley and Renfrewshire South£35.9m£379£582
27Motherwell, Wishaw and Carluke£36.1m£369£581
28Neath and Swansea East£36.5m£361£579
29Glasgow South£36.5m£398£576
30Liverpool Garston£33.0m£347£576
31Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough£41.3m£363£574
32Airdrie and Shotts£34.6m£370£574
33Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West£31.6m£351£572
34Blackley and Middleton South£40.2m£352£564
35Swansea West£41.2m£370£557
36Dundee Central£40.3m£378£553
37Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock£29.1m£323£549
38Kingston upon Hull East£35.0m£337£546
39Pontypridd£35.7m£342£541
40Dumfries and Galloway£29.9m£311£540
41Torbay£32.6m£312£537
42Wythenshawe and Sale East£38.1m£334£536
43Torfaen£30.3m£324£534
44Glasgow North£46.3m£410£533
45Sheffield Heeley£36.9m£338£532
46Redcar£29.7m£313£530
47Paisley and Renfrewshire North£32.2m£336£528
48Normanton and Hemsworth£34.1m£322£525
49Isle of Wight East£19.8m£285£524
50Central Ayrshire£27.7m£309£521

League table of every constituency for the latest period

Values are per person aged 16 to 64 unless a column says otherwise. Sources: Department for Work and Pensions, Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland.

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