How does my area compare?

South Tyneside has the highest spending on Jobseeker's Allowance per person aged 16 to 64 in 2024-25.

Money for people looking for work, based on the National Insurance they have paid. Shown in 2026-27 prices, adjusted for inflation so that years can be compared.

Per person aged 16 to 64, low to high

Under £5.38
£5.38 to £6.68
£6.68 to £7.97
£7.97 to £9.27
£9.27 to £11
£11 and over

Spending on Jobseeker's Allowance, per person aged 16 to 64, 2024-25, by local authority. 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 person aged 16 to 64 are drawn in dark lines.

What changed

More people, more claims or bigger payments?

Great Britain, Jobseeker's Allowance: 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: Jobseeker's Allowance
February 2023	£421.8m
Population	+£3.8m
Share claiming	−£76.0m
Payment size	+£8.4m
March 2026	£358.0m

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.

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

Spending on Jobseeker's Allowance, 2024-25. Rank is for per person aged 16 to 64, 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 Jobseeker's Allowance for every local authority, 2024-25
Rank
1	South Tyneside	£1.3m	£8.94	£15
2	Dudley	£2.8m	£8.42	£14
3	Milton Keynes	£2.7m	£8.75	£14
4	Sunderland	£2.4m	£8.40	£14
5	Hackney	£2.6m	£9.84	£13
6	Birmingham	£9.6m	£8.14	£12
7	Folkestone and Hythe	£0.77m	£6.90	£12
8	Sandwell	£2.7m	£7.54	£12
9	Lambeth	£2.8m	£8.93	£12
10	Islington	£2.0m	£8.90	£12
11	Melton	£0.36m	£6.66	£11
12	Waltham Forest	£2.2m	£7.71	£11
13	Kingston upon Hull, City of	£1.9m	£7.04	£11
14	Ealing	£2.9m	£7.50	£11
15	Stoke-on-Trent	£1.8m	£6.77	£11
16	Wolverhampton	£1.9m	£6.77	£11
17	North Ayrshire	£0.86m	£6.43	£11
18	Nottingham	£2.5m	£7.55	£11
19	Watford	£0.75m	£7.03	£11
20	Monmouthshire	£0.58m	£6.05	£10
21	Greenwich	£2.2m	£7.29	£10
22	Wandsworth	£2.6m	£7.74	£10
23	Thanet	£0.85m	£6.01	£10
24	Rossendale	£0.46m	£6.34	£10
25	Haringey	£2.0m	£7.30	£10
26	Three Rivers	£0.60m	£6.29	£10
27	Walsall	£1.8m	£6.18	£10
28	Knowsley	£1.0m	£6.28	£10
29	Sheffield	£3.8m	£6.57	£10
30	Ashfield	£0.79m	£6.14	£10.00
31	Richmond upon Thames	£1.2m	£6.26	£9.87
32	Nuneaton and Bedworth	£0.86m	£6.07	£9.84
33	Blaenau Gwent	£0.41m	£6.05	£9.81
34	Hertsmere	£0.66m	£6.00	£9.73
35	Spelthorne	£0.65m	£6.09	£9.69
36	Luton	£1.5m	£6.33	£9.60
37	Brent	£2.4m	£6.69	£9.59
38	St. Helens	£1.1m	£5.93	£9.59
39	Lewisham	£2.1m	£6.85	£9.56
40	Bedford	£1.2m	£5.97	£9.48
41	Bromley	£2.0m	£5.94	£9.47
42	Darlington	£0.65m	£5.76	£9.46
43	Hillingdon	£2.1m	£6.30	£9.44
44	Gedling	£0.69m	£5.72	£9.42
45	Ipswich	£0.83m	£5.92	£9.42
46	Wigan	£2.0m	£5.85	£9.39
47	Buckinghamshire	£3.3m	£5.73	£9.38
48	Havering	£1.6m	£5.84	£9.37
49	Barking and Dagenham	£1.5m	£6.25	£9.34
50	Bradford	£3.2m	£5.79	£9.30

League table of every local authority for the latest period

Values are per person aged 16 to 64 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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