How does my area compare?

Birmingham has the highest total number of people aged 16 to 64 on carer benefits in March 2026.

People aged 16 to 64 receiving Carer's Allowance or Carer Support Payment, in each month with published figures. Money for people who care for a disabled person for at least 35 hours a week. In Scotland, Carer Support Payment replaces Carer's Allowance.

Total, low to high

Under 2,579
2,579 to 4,537
4,537 to 6,495
6,495 to 8,453
8,453 to 10,411
10,411 and over

Estimated value

People aged 16 to 64 receiving Carer's Allowance or Carer Support Payment, total, 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 total are drawn in dark lines.

What changed

More people, more claims or bigger payments?

Great Britain, Carer's Allowance and Carer Support Payment: 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: Carer's Allowance and Carer Support Payment
February 2023	£3.6bn
Population	+£40.9m
Share claiming	+£579.2m
Payment size	+£217.0m
March 2026	£4.4bn

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. Scottish areas are left out because Social Security Scotland pays this benefit.

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.

Expected level = −£567 + £3,670 × share aged 0 to 15 − £115 × share aged 66 and over − £170 × deprivation decile + £257 × ln(median pay) + £432 × Wales + £94 × Scotland. Fitted by ordinary least squares across 348 local authorities. R² = 0.85. Gold dots are above the expected level and grey dots are below it.

Every local authority

People aged 16 to 64 receiving Carer's Allowance or Carer Support Payment, March 2026. Rank is for total, 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 aged 16 to 64 receiving Carer's Allowance or Carer Support Payment for every local authority, March 2026
Rank					Notes
1	Birmingham	31,598	26.7	40.8
2	Bradford	17,956	32.1	51.6
3	Glasgow City	14,864	22.9	32.2	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
4	Sheffield	13,773	23.7	36.1
5	County Durham	13,298	24.8	40.2
6	Manchester	13,035	22.1	31.1
7	Leeds	12,533	14.9	22.5
8	Liverpool	12,366	24.3	35.9
9	Sandwell	9,173	26.0	40.8
10	Kirklees	8,550	19.2	30.8
11	North Lanarkshire	8,464	24.6	38.4	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
12	Tower Hamlets	8,330	24.8	31.9
13	Walsall	8,176	27.8	45.1
14	Cornwall	8,041	13.8	23.8
15	Sunderland	8,008	27.9	45.1
16	Rotherham	7,982	28.9	47.1
17	Leicester	7,980	20.6	30.5
18	Enfield	7,571	22.8	35.5
19	Wakefield	7,431	20.3	32.5
20	Doncaster	7,426	23.2	37.6
21	Newham	7,273	19.2	26.1
22	Dudley	7,272	22.0	36.1
23	Fife	7,183	19.2	31.1	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
24	Wirral	7,111	21.7	36.3
25	South Lanarkshire	6,957	20.9	33.6	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
26	Nottingham	6,907	20.9	29.8
27	Somerset	6,839	11.6	20.1
28	North Yorkshire	6,710	10.6	18.2
29	Brent	6,634	18.7	26.7
30	Bolton	6,589	21.3	34.6
31	Derby	6,514	23.8	37.2
32	Oldham	6,509	26.0	42.0
33	Kingston upon Hull, City of	6,484	23.6	36.5
34	Wolverhampton	6,476	23.1	36.8
35	Barnsley	6,400	25.5	41.3
36	Newcastle upon Tyne	6,399	20.1	29.4
37	Coventry	6,359	17.2	25.9
38	Wigan	6,348	18.4	29.6
39	Cardiff	6,171	16.2	23.7
40	Northumberland	6,039	18.3	31.7
41	Bristol, City of	6,038	12.2	17.2
42	Stoke-on-Trent	5,808	21.5	34.3
43	Buckinghamshire	5,799	10.0	16.4
44	Ealing	5,684	14.7	21.2
45	Wiltshire	5,581	10.7	17.9
46	Salford	5,565	19.0	27.7
47	Medway	5,483	18.8	29.9
48	Rhondda Cynon Taf	5,475	22.6	36.4
49	Cheshire West and Chester	5,465	14.7	24.0
50	Croydon	5,425	13.3	20.1

League table of every local authority for the latest period

Values are total unless a column says otherwise. Sources: Department for Work and Pensions, Social Security Scotland, 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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