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Islington has the highest spending on pensioner benefits per person aged 66 and over in 2023-24.

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.

Per person aged 66 and over, low to high

Under £12,235
£12,235 to £12,465
£12,465 to £12,695
£12,695 to £12,925
£12,925 to £13,155
£13,155 and over

Estimated value

Spending on pensioner benefits, per person aged 66 and over, 2023-24, 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 per person aged 66 and over 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, 2023-24. Rank is for per person aged 66 and over, 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, 2023-24
Rank					Notes
1	Islington	£267.8m	£1,187	£13,711
2	Glasgow City	£1.1bn	£1,764	£13,711	Estimated
3	Hackney	£272.5m	£1,019	£13,504
4	Hartlepool	£241.1m	£2,519	£13,436
5	North Lanarkshire	£782.4m	£2,285	£13,432	Estimated
6	Tower Hamlets	£234.3m	£701	£13,422
7	Knowsley	£342.8m	£2,154	£13,403
8	Liverpool	£960.9m	£1,910	£13,385
9	West Dunbartonshire	£224.2m	£2,524	£13,259	Estimated
10	Broxbourne	£219.3m	£2,177	£13,247
11	Caerphilly	£450.7m	£2,557	£13,164
12	Southwark	£334.8m	£1,059	£13,163
13	Salford	£450.6m	£1,570	£13,155
14	Blaenau Gwent	£172.1m	£2,550	£13,150
15	Manchester	£661.1m	£1,137	£13,130
16	Harlow	£171.0m	£1,775	£13,127
17	South Tyneside	£391.9m	£2,618	£13,078
18	Basildon	£399.4m	£2,094	£13,071
19	Merthyr Tydfil	£138.8m	£2,364	£13,060
20	Lambeth	£351.6m	£1,097	£13,060
21	Stoke-on-Trent	£559.0m	£2,104	£13,052
22	South Lanarkshire	£830.0m	£2,508	£13,049	Estimated
23	Halton	£303.4m	£2,330	£13,042
24	Walsall	£619.4m	£2,132	£13,042
25	Oldham	£481.5m	£1,947	£13,015
26	Redditch	£205.1m	£2,345	£13,008
27	Neath Port Talbot	£377.1m	£2,660	£13,000
28	Rhondda Cynon Taf	£587.1m	£2,430	£12,991
29	Rochdale	£462.8m	£2,006	£12,989
30	Gateshead	£497.7m	£2,490	£12,986
31	Sandwell	£619.8m	£1,773	£12,986
32	Sunderland	£713.6m	£2,524	£12,985
33	Torfaen	£240.6m	£2,572	£12,981
34	Haringey	£351.5m	£1,315	£12,981
35	Gravesham	£226.9m	£2,080	£12,981
36	Dundee City	£329.7m	£2,195	£12,979	Estimated
37	Newport	£338.1m	£2,050	£12,973
38	Hyndburn	£188.1m	£2,225	£12,964
39	Pendle	£219.2m	£2,242	£12,964
40	Tameside	£504.4m	£2,140	£12,956
41	Stevenage	£170.9m	£1,892	£12,953
42	Thurrock	£295.0m	£1,645	£12,951
43	St. Helens	£469.3m	£2,514	£12,946
44	Dudley	£817.9m	£2,495	£12,941
45	Swansea	£615.2m	£2,473	£12,938
46	Crawley	£196.9m	£1,605	£12,930
47	Coventry	£618.4m	£1,717	£12,918
48	North Ayrshire	£391.4m	£2,926	£12,907	Estimated
49	East Ayrshire	£318.8m	£2,639	£12,903	Estimated
50	Castle Point	£283.7m	£3,159	£12,903

League table of every local authority for the latest period

Values are per person aged 66 and over 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

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