How does my area compare?

Birmingham has the highest total spending on winter heating payments in 2024-25.

A yearly payment to help people over State Pension age with heating costs. In Scotland, Pension Age Winter Heating Payment replaces Winter Fuel Payment. Shown in 2026-27 prices, adjusted for inflation so that years can be compared.

Total, low to high

Under £0.72m
£0.72m to £1.2m
£1.2m to £1.7m
£1.7m to £2.3m
£2.3m to £2.8m
£2.8m and over

Estimated value

Spending on Winter Fuel Payment and Pension Age Winter Heating Payment, 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 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, 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 Winter Fuel Payment and Pension Age Winter Heating Payment, 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 Winter Fuel Payment and Pension Age Winter Heating Payment for every local authority, 2024-25
Rank					Notes
1	Birmingham	£7.4m	£6.25	£51
2	Glasgow City	£5.5m	£8.52	£66	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
3	Liverpool	£4.3m	£8.39	£58
4	Cornwall	£3.9m	£6.65	£27
5	County Durham	£3.8m	£7.16	£35
6	Leeds	£3.8m	£4.52	£31
7	Manchester	£3.5m	£5.99	£69
8	Sheffield	£3.3m	£5.66	£36
9	Bradford	£3.2m	£5.78	£39
10	North Yorkshire	£3.0m	£4.74	£19
11	Somerset	£2.9m	£4.95	£20
12	Leicester	£2.6m	£6.68	£60
13	Sandwell	£2.6m	£7.26	£53
14	Brent	£2.4m	£6.74	£60
15	Ealing	£2.3m	£6.05	£52
16	Sunderland	£2.3m	£8.14	£42
17	Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole	£2.3m	£5.54	£27
18	Wirral	£2.2m	£6.81	£32
19	Newham	£2.2m	£5.89	£86
20	Kirklees	£2.2m	£4.98	£29
21	North Lanarkshire	£2.2m	£6.34	£37	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
22	Barnet	£2.1m	£5.20	£37
23	Sefton	£2.1m	£7.40	£33
24	Enfield	£2.1m	£6.35	£47
25	Dorset	£2.0m	£5.18	£18
26	Dudley	£2.0m	£6.09	£32
27	Bristol, City of	£2.0m	£4.01	£34
28	Walsall	£2.0m	£6.72	£41
29	Hackney	£2.0m	£7.35	£95
30	East Riding of Yorkshire	£2.0m	£5.53	£21
31	Tower Hamlets	£2.0m	£5.81	£108
32	Wigan	£1.9m	£5.62	£31
32	Lambeth	£1.9m	£6.07	£70
34	Wiltshire	£1.9m	£3.69	£17
35	Southwark	£1.9m	£6.08	£73
36	Doncaster	£1.9m	£5.96	£32
37	Wolverhampton	£1.9m	£6.79	£45
38	Wakefield	£1.9m	£5.18	£29
39	Bolton	£1.9m	£6.15	£38
40	Kingston upon Hull, City of	£1.9m	£6.90	£47
41	Cardiff	£1.9m	£4.93	£36
42	City of Edinburgh	£1.9m	£3.52	£23	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
43	Croydon	£1.9m	£4.55	£35
44	Newcastle upon Tyne	£1.9m	£5.82	£42
45	Northumberland	£1.9m	£5.61	£22
46	Nottingham	£1.8m	£5.58	£50
47	South Lanarkshire	£1.8m	£5.53	£28	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
48	Haringey	£1.8m	£6.84	£66
49	Coventry	£1.8m	£4.87	£37
50	Shropshire	£1.8m	£5.36	£21

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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