How does my area compare?

North Yorkshire has the highest total spending on pensioner benefits in 2024-25.

State Pension, Pension Credit, Attendance Allowance and winter heating payments, with the Scottish benefits that replace them. Per person figures use people aged 66 and over, the State Pension age. Shown in 2026-27 prices, adjusted for inflation so that years can be compared.

Total, low to high

Under £353.6m
£353.6m to £564.1m
£564.1m to £774.5m
£774.5m to £984.9m
£984.9m to £1.2bn
£1.2bn and over

Estimated value

Spending on pensioner benefits, total, 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 348 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, State Pension: 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: State Pension
February 2023	£120.7bn
Population	+£2.5bn
Share claiming	+£5.2bn
Payment size	+£15.0bn
March 2026	£143.4bn

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

Spending on pensioner benefits, 2024-25. 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.

Spending on pensioner benefits for every local authority, 2024-25
Rank					Notes
1	North Yorkshire	£1.9bn	£3,068	£12,429
2	Birmingham	£1.9bn	£1,593	£13,003
3	Somerset	£1.8bn	£3,001	£12,406
4	Cornwall	£1.8bn	£3,018	£12,212
5	Leeds	£1.6bn	£1,895	£12,849
6	County Durham	£1.4bn	£2,689	£13,025
7	Wiltshire	£1.4bn	£2,691	£12,371
8	Dorset	£1.4bn	£3,610	£12,394
9	Buckinghamshire	£1.3bn	£2,295	£12,703
10	Sheffield	£1.2bn	£2,036	£12,806
11	Glasgow City	£1.2bn	£1,806	£13,949	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
12	East Riding of Yorkshire	£1.1bn	£3,197	£12,427
13	Cheshire East	£1.1bn	£2,677	£12,494
14	Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole	£1.1bn	£2,606	£12,569
15	Bradford	£1.1bn	£1,883	£12,810
16	Northumberland	£1.1bn	£3,178	£12,607
17	Shropshire	£1.0bn	£3,095	£12,313
18	City of Edinburgh	£994.3m	£1,869	£12,400	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
19	Liverpool	£994.1m	£1,956	£13,611
20	Fife	£984.2m	£2,626	£12,547	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
21	Kirklees	£968.9m	£2,174	£12,674
22	Cheshire West and Chester	£954.6m	£2,573	£12,559
23	West Northamptonshire	£935.3m	£2,120	£12,873
24	Wirral	£907.1m	£2,764	£12,950
25	South Lanarkshire	£859.9m	£2,582	£13,200	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
26	East Suffolk	£855.2m	£3,426	£12,409
27	Wakefield	£839.9m	£2,289	£12,707
28	North Northamptonshire	£839.8m	£2,237	£12,892
29	Dudley	£834.5m	£2,519	£13,105
30	Sefton	£827.8m	£2,902	£12,883
31	Wigan	£810.1m	£2,353	£12,923
32	North Lanarkshire	£808.2m	£2,352	£13,593	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
33	Cumberland	£807.1m	£2,882	£12,718
34	Bristol, City of	£763.5m	£1,545	£13,026
35	Doncaster	£753.4m	£2,353	£12,757
36	Stockport	£751.7m	£2,488	£12,963
37	Sunderland	£739.2m	£2,578	£13,153
38	Bromley	£735.1m	£2,197	£12,907
39	Westmorland and Furness	£719.2m	£3,129	£12,441
40	Barnet	£696.4m	£1,714	£12,153
41	Central Bedfordshire	£695.3m	£2,200	£12,823
42	South Gloucestershire	£685.9m	£2,243	£12,671
43	Cardiff	£684.0m	£1,791	£13,010
44	Manchester	£682.8m	£1,160	£13,345
45	Highland	£682.4m	£2,872	£12,409	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
46	Aberdeenshire	£672.7m	£2,537	£12,172	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
47	Croydon	£669.6m	£1,639	£12,613
48	Rotherham	£658.9m	£2,384	£12,834
49	North Somerset	£650.5m	£2,896	£12,626
50	New Forest	£645.5m	£3,671	£12,533

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

Choose a measure