Who Gets What

How does my area compare?

Westminster has the highest spending on Pension Credit per resident in 2024-25.

Extra money for people over State Pension age who have a low income. Shown in 2026-27 prices, adjusted for inflation so that years can be compared.

Spending on Pension Credit, per resident, 2024-25, by local authority

Per resident, low to high

  1. Under £69
  2. £69 to £92
  3. £92 to £115
  4. £115 to £139
  5. £139 to £162
  6. £162 and over
Spending on Pension Credit, per resident, 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 350 ranked local authorities. It joins the area's rank for each way of counting. The 10 highest per resident are drawn in dark lines.

TotalPer residentPer person aged 66 and over1350Hackney 2Westminster 5Haringey 6Brent 8Camden 10Leicester 13Ealing 14Kensington and Chelsea 16Rushmoor 20Harrow 27

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.

£5.6bnFebruary 2023+£111.6mPopulation−£63.9mShare claiming+£793.3mPayment size£6.4bnMarch 2026
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.

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 Pension Credit, 2024-25. Rank is for per resident, 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 Pension Credit for every local authority, 2024-25
RankNotes
1Westminster£45.3m£210£1,816
2Kensington and Chelsea£29.6m£201£1,400
3Brent£70.4m£198£1,764
4Hackney£52.0m£194£2,503
5Camden£41.2m£187£1,669
6Haringey£50.2m£187£1,802
7Ealing£71.8m£185£1,581
8Rushmoor£19.5m£185£1,281
9Leicester£69.1m£179£1,596
10Harrow£45.9m£169£1,145
11Islington£38.2m£169£1,911
12Enfield£55.8m£168£1,237
13Newham£62.0m£163£2,399
14Hammersmith and Fulham£31.1m£163£1,611
15Hounslow£47.8m£159£1,397
16Glasgow City£101.3m£156£1,203
17Liverpool£77.6m£153£1,062
18Lambeth£47.6m£149£1,716
19Southwark£47.2m£149£1,789
20Tower Hamlets£49.4m£147£2,736
21Knowsley£23.7m£146£901
22Blackpool£21.0m£146£745
23Barnet£59.3m£146£1,035
24Hastings£12.9m£142£709
25Sandwell£49.7m£141£1,036
26Hartlepool£13.7m£140£746
27Redbridge£44.9m£139£1,186
28North Ayrshire£18.5m£138£597
29Torbay£19.3m£138£528
30Greenwich£41.0m£136£1,361
31Thanet£19.0m£134£587
32Na h-Eileanan Siar£3.4m£133£513
33Wolverhampton£37.2m£133£877
34Manchester£77.5m£132£1,515
35Inverclyde£10.3m£131£608
36South Tyneside£19.7m£130£644
37Barking and Dagenham£30.4m£129£1,643
38East Lindsey£18.6m£128£428
39Conwy£14.6m£128£475
40Birmingham£150.5m£127£1,039
41Waltham Forest£35.9m£127£1,280
42Dumfries and Galloway£18.4m£126£476
43Blaenau Gwent£8.5m£126£645
44Lewisham£38.0m£126£1,319
45Tendring£19.6m£125£445
46Denbighshire£12.3m£125£524
47Sunderland£35.8m£125£636
48Folkestone and Hythe£13.8m£123£502
49West Dunbartonshire£10.9m£122£630
50Neath Port Talbot£17.4m£122£592

League table of every local authority for the latest period

Values are per resident 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

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