How does my area compare?

Blackpool has the most people receiving Pension Credit per 1,000 residents in March 2026.

People receiving Pension Credit, in each month with published figures. Extra money for people over State Pension age who have a low income.

Per 1,000 residents, low to high

Under 14.3
14.3 to 18.2
18.2 to 22.0
22.0 to 25.8
25.8 to 29.6
29.6 and over

People receiving Pension Credit, per 1,000 residents, March 2026, 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 1,000 residents are drawn in dark lines.

What changed

More people, more claims or bigger payments?

Great Britain, Pension Credit: 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.

What changed: Pension Credit
February 2023	£5.6bn
Population	+£111.6m
Share claiming	−£63.9m
Payment size	+£793.3m
March 2026	£6.4bn

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.

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

People receiving Pension Credit, March 2026. Rank is for per 1,000 residents, 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.

People receiving Pension Credit for every local authority, March 2026
Rank
1	Blackpool	5,164	36.0	183.3
2	Hartlepool	3,469	35.4	188.9
3	Knowsley	5,714	35.3	217.3
4	South Tyneside	5,218	34.6	171.0
5	Na h-Eileanan Siar	882	34.0	131.5
6	Torbay	4,717	33.7	129.5
7	Glasgow City	21,830	33.6	259.2
8	North Ayrshire	4,472	33.4	144.7
9	Blaenau Gwent	2,259	33.4	170.9
10	Liverpool	16,941	33.3	231.9
11	East Lindsey	4,732	32.6	108.9
12	Sunderland	9,324	32.5	165.9
13	Inverclyde	2,549	32.4	150.6
14	Hastings	2,888	31.7	158.9
15	Redcar and Cleveland	4,383	31.6	138.6
16	Conwy	3,588	31.4	116.6
17	West Dunbartonshire	2,782	31.3	161.3
18	Great Yarmouth	3,122	31.0	131.9
19	Thanet	4,400	31.0	135.9
20	Kensington and Chelsea	4,550	30.9	215.4
21	Tendring	4,813	30.8	109.2
22	Hackney	8,254	30.7	397.3
23	Denbighshire	2,999	30.6	128.3
24	Dumfries and Galloway	4,471	30.6	115.9
25	Westminster	6,483	30.1	259.7
26	Neath Port Talbot	4,265	29.9	145.0
27	Camden	6,551	29.7	265.1
28	Sefton	8,401	29.4	130.7
29	Merthyr Tydfil	1,729	29.4	159.6
30	Isle of Anglesey	2,016	29.3	112.5
31	Caerphilly	5,111	29.0	147.8
32	Gateshead	5,835	29.0	149.6
33	North East Lincolnshire	4,608	28.8	141.3
34	North Lanarkshire	9,825	28.6	165.3
35	Islington	6,457	28.5	322.9
36	Haringey	7,660	28.5	274.9
37	East Ayrshire	3,436	28.3	136.2
38	County Durham	15,081	28.1	136.1
39	Isle of Wight	3,934	27.8	96.7
40	Pembrokeshire	3,488	27.8	108.4
41	Brent	9,836	27.7	246.5
42	Sandwell	9,724	27.5	202.8
43	Middlesbrough	4,246	27.4	174.3
44	Kingston upon Hull, City of	7,526	27.4	187.9
45	Wirral	8,981	27.4	128.2
46	Carmarthenshire	5,201	27.3	114.7
47	Torfaen	2,563	27.3	136.1
48	Rhondda Cynon Taf	6,545	27.1	143.0
49	Gwynedd	3,253	26.9	121.5
50	Dundee City	4,011	26.9	155.4

League table of every local authority for the latest period

Values are per 1,000 residents 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

Does the order change when you count per person?

More people, more claims or bigger payments?

Is spending higher or lower than expected?

Every local authority

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