Who Gets What

How does my area compare?

Edmonton and Winchmore Hill has the highest spending on Universal Credit per person aged 16 to 64 in 2024-25.

Help with living costs for working-age people on a low income, in or out of work. Shown in 2026-27 prices, using CPI inflation, adjusted for inflation so that years can be compared.

Spending on Universal Credit, per person aged 16 to 64, 2024-25, by constituency

Per person aged 16 to 64, low to high

  1. Under £1,140
  2. £1,140 to £1,486
  3. £1,486 to £1,832
  4. £1,832 to £2,179
  5. £2,179 to £2,525
  6. £2,525 and over
Spending on Universal Credit, per person aged 16 to 64, 2024-25, 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 641632Edmonton and Winchmore Hill 1Enfield North 2Brent East 3Hackney North and Stoke Newington 4Tottenham 5Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North 6Blackpool South 7Blackley and Middleton South 8Birmingham Erdington 9Queen's Park and Maida Vale 10

What changed

More people, more claims or bigger payments?

Great Britain, Universal Credit: yearly spending at the rate in May 2023 and in May 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.

£53.1bnMay 2023+£742.7mPopulation+£22.7bnShare claiming+£10.9bnPayment size£87.5bnMay 2026
What changed: Universal Credit
May 2023£53.1bn
Population+£742.7m
Share claiming+£22.7bn
Payment size+£10.9bn
May 2026£87.5bn
The share claiming is the number of households 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 Universal Credit, 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 632 rows are shown.

Spending on Universal Credit for every constituency, 2024-25
RankNotes
1Edmonton and Winchmore Hill£319.6m£2,555£4,008
2Enfield North£326.4m£2,560£3,995
3Brent East£357.0m£2,603£3,829
4Hackney North and Stoke Newington£306.4m£2,610£3,791
5Tottenham£364.8m£2,635£3,691
6Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North£246.6m£1,966£3,154
7Blackpool South£213.1m£1,893£3,024
8Blackley and Middleton South£217.1m£1,882£3,020
9Birmingham Erdington£233.9m£1,854£2,904
10Queen's Park and Maida Vale£259.4m£2,081£2,896
11Lewisham East£231.1m£1,961£2,876
12Liverpool Walton£185.9m£1,815£2,874
13Croydon West£263.6m£1,998£2,873
14East Thanet£180.8m£1,702£2,871
15Barking£274.1m£1,924£2,869
16Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough£209.2m£1,814£2,851
17Birmingham Northfield£190.1m£1,738£2,833
18Birmingham Yardley£210.3m£1,785£2,819
19Birmingham Perry Barr£231.3m£1,846£2,815
20East Ham£264.3m£1,937£2,813
21Bradford East£221.7m£1,788£2,804
22Gorton and Denton£212.6m£1,785£2,789
23Southgate and Wood Green£236.9m£1,855£2,759
24Walsall and Bloxwich£217.6m£1,740£2,757
25Ealing North£245.4m£1,825£2,725
26Nottingham North and Kimberley£185.5m£1,688£2,716
27Middlesbrough and Thornaby East£211.2m£1,742£2,699
28Bradford West£222.6m£1,752£2,697
29Bootle£177.7m£1,704£2,695
30Bradford South£186.7m£1,664£2,677
31Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes£176.5m£1,630£2,676
32Leeds South£239.7m£1,814£2,674
33Hartlepool£159.7m£1,626£2,662
34Wolverhampton South East£213.7m£1,665£2,654
35Bolton South and Walkden£216.1m£1,657£2,637
36Bethnal Green and Stepney£269.5m£2,001£2,605
37Birkenhead£178.2m£1,623£2,590
38Easington£151.7m£1,577£2,567
39Knowsley£159.5m£1,610£2,562
40Erith and Thamesmead£242.3m£1,736£2,552
41Kingston upon Hull East£163.1m£1,564£2,542
42Birmingham Ladywood£311.2m£1,865£2,542
43Finchley and Golders Green£208.6m£1,604£2,524
44Hendon£236.7m£1,699£2,519
45Blackburn£188.2m£1,582£2,514
46Derby South£204.0m£1,627£2,514
47Coventry East£199.9m£1,595£2,507
48Southend East and Rochford£159.4m£1,560£2,500
49Clacton£136.3m£1,323£2,490
50Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton£183.5m£1,560£2,490

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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