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Tower Hamlets has the highest spending on winter heating payments per person aged 66 and over 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.

Spending on Winter Fuel Payment and Pension Age Winter Heating Payment, per person aged 66 and over, 2024-25, by local authority

Per person aged 66 and over, low to high

  1. Under £22
  2. £22 to £31
  3. £31 to £40
  4. £40 to £48
  5. £48 to £57
  6. £57 and over
  • Estimated value
Spending on Winter Fuel Payment and Pension Age Winter Heating Payment, 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 350 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.

TotalPer residentPer person aged 66 and over1350Tower Hamlets 1Hackney 2Newham 3Islington 4Southwark 5Lambeth 6Manchester 7Barking and Dagenham 8Haringey 9Glasgow City 10

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.

Benefit
£120.7bnFebruary 2023+£2.5bnPopulation+£5.2bnShare claiming+£15.0bnPayment size£143.4bnMarch 2026
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.

Chart step
This chart needs JavaScript. Each area's expected level is on its area page.
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 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 Winter Fuel Payment and Pension Age Winter Heating Payment for every local authority, 2024-25
RankNotes
1Tower Hamlets£2.0m£5.81£108
2Hackney£2.0m£7.35£95
3Newham£2.2m£5.89£86
4Islington£1.6m£6.90£78
5Southwark£1.9m£6.08£73
6Lambeth£1.9m£6.07£70
7Manchester£3.5m£5.99£69
8Barking and Dagenham£1.2m£5.19£66
9Haringey£1.8m£6.84£66
10Glasgow City£5.5m£8.52£66Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
11Camden£1.6m£7.21£64
12Westminster£1.5m£7.16£62
13Hammersmith and Fulham£1.2m£6.14£61
14Brent£2.4m£6.74£60
15Leicester£2.6m£6.68£60
16Liverpool£4.3m£8.39£58
17Lewisham£1.6m£5.37£56
18Knowsley£1.4m£8.86£54
19Sandwell£2.6m£7.26£53
20Greenwich£1.6m£5.32£53
21Waltham Forest£1.5m£5.21£53
22Kensington and Chelsea£1.1m£7.51£52
23Ealing£2.3m£6.05£52
24Birmingham£7.4m£6.25£51
25Nottingham£1.8m£5.58£50
26Slough£0.73m£4.38£48
27Hounslow£1.6m£5.42£47
28Kingston upon Hull, City of£1.9m£6.90£47
29Wandsworth£1.5m£4.39£47
30Enfield£2.1m£6.35£47
31Luton£1.2m£4.92£46
32Hartlepool£0.84m£8.56£46
33Salford£1.6m£5.36£45
34Blackpool£1.3m£8.92£45
35Wolverhampton£1.9m£6.79£45
36Blackburn with Darwen£0.96m£5.97£45
37Redbridge£1.7m£5.13£44
38South Tyneside£1.3m£8.68£43
39Blaenau Gwent£0.56m£8.33£43
40Middlesbrough£1.0m£6.70£43
41Newcastle upon Tyne£1.9m£5.82£42
42Sunderland£2.3m£8.14£42
43Walsall£2.0m£6.72£41
44Rochdale£1.5m£6.21£40
45Merthyr Tydfil£0.43m£7.39£40
46Norwich£0.83m£5.62£40
47Hastings£0.71m£7.85£39
48Bradford£3.2m£5.78£39
49Rushmoor£0.60m£5.65£39
50Bolton£1.9m£6.15£38

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.

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