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Glasgow City has the highest spending on pensioner benefits per person aged 66 and over 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.

Per person aged 66 and over, low to high

Under £12,278
£12,278 to £12,526
£12,526 to £12,774
£12,774 to £13,022
£13,022 to £13,271
£13,271 and over

Estimated value

Spending on pensioner benefits, per person aged 66 and over, 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 per person aged 66 and over are drawn in dark lines, and the selected area in gold.

What changed

More people, more claims or bigger payments?

Gwynedd, 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	£260.3m
Population	+£4.0m
Share claiming	+£9.0m
Payment size	+£34.2m
March 2026	£307.5m

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 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, 2024-25
Rank					Notes
1	Glasgow City	£1.2bn	£1,806	£13,949	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
2	Islington	£278.8m	£1,232	£13,939
3	Hackney	£286.0m	£1,065	£13,766
4	Hartlepool	£252.7m	£2,582	£13,760
5	Liverpool	£994.1m	£1,956	£13,611
6	Knowsley	£357.7m	£2,212	£13,604
7	North Lanarkshire	£808.2m	£2,352	£13,593	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
8	Tower Hamlets	£244.2m	£727	£13,518
9	Broxbourne	£224.9m	£2,208	£13,488
10	West Dunbartonshire	£231.9m	£2,611	£13,444	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
11	Caerphilly	£462.9m	£2,627	£13,383
12	Manchester	£682.8m	£1,160	£13,345
13	Salford	£461.8m	£1,573	£13,328
14	Blaenau Gwent	£175.7m	£2,595	£13,294
15	South Tyneside	£405.3m	£2,689	£13,280
16	Harlow	£175.5m	£1,788	£13,271
17	Lambeth	£368.3m	£1,155	£13,267
18	Southwark	£350.0m	£1,104	£13,265
19	Basildon	£412.0m	£2,137	£13,260
20	Merthyr Tydfil	£143.4m	£2,442	£13,241
21	Walsall	£630.3m	£2,139	£13,209
22	Gravesham	£232.5m	£2,100	£13,207
23	Halton	£313.3m	£2,387	£13,205
24	Redditch	£210.8m	£2,403	£13,203
25	South Lanarkshire	£859.9m	£2,582	£13,200	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
26	Oldham	£491.4m	£1,960	£13,198
27	Stoke-on-Trent	£572.5m	£2,120	£13,194
28	Torfaen	£248.4m	£2,641	£13,193
29	Haringey	£367.6m	£1,369	£13,192
30	Sandwell	£632.5m	£1,790	£13,190
31	Neath Port Talbot	£387.5m	£2,717	£13,176
32	Rhondda Cynon Taf	£602.7m	£2,493	£13,173
33	Rochdale	£477.3m	£2,032	£13,168
34	Gateshead	£513.0m	£2,547	£13,156
35	Sunderland	£739.2m	£2,578	£13,153
36	Newport	£347.2m	£2,074	£13,136
37	St. Helens	£480.7m	£2,552	£13,122
38	Thurrock	£302.5m	£1,669	£13,114
39	Dundee City	£338.3m	£2,266	£13,112	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
40	Dudley	£834.5m	£2,519	£13,105
41	Nottingham	£479.6m	£1,451	£13,100
42	Hyndburn	£191.7m	£2,232	£13,099
43	Pendle	£225.3m	£2,261	£13,097
44	Swansea	£630.8m	£2,517	£13,084
45	East Ayrshire	£329.7m	£2,717	£13,069	Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
46	Camden	£322.9m	£1,464	£13,069
47	Coventry	£630.5m	£1,710	£13,064
48	Bridgend	£391.5m	£2,662	£13,059
49	Tamworth	£194.2m	£2,401	£13,059
50	Tameside	£517.3m	£2,165	£13,058

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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