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Hackney has the highest spending on winter heating payments per person aged 66 and over in 2023-24.

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, 2023-24, by local authority

Per person aged 66 and over, low to high

  1. Under £418
  2. £418 to £431
  3. £431 to £445
  4. £445 to £458
  5. £458 to £471
  6. £471 and over
Spending on Winter Fuel Payment and Pension Age Winter Heating Payment, 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 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 over1350Hackney 1Tower Hamlets 2Islington 3Lambeth 4Southwark 5Newham 6Haringey 7Lewisham 8Camden 9Hammersmith and Fulham 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, 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 Winter Fuel Payment and Pension Age Winter Heating Payment for every local authority, 2023-24
RankNotes
1Hackney£10.5m£39£520Boundary or method change
2Tower Hamlets£8.9m£27£510Boundary or method change
3Islington£9.9m£44£508Boundary or method change
4Lambeth£13.5m£42£501Boundary or method change
5Southwark£12.7m£40£499Boundary or method change
6Newham£12.2m£33£491Boundary or method change
7Haringey£13.2m£49£487Boundary or method change
8Lewisham£13.6m£45£485Boundary or method change
9Camden£11.7m£53£484Boundary or method change
10Hammersmith and Fulham£9.0m£48£484Boundary or method change
11Manchester£24.0m£41£478Boundary or method change
12Waltham Forest£13.1m£46£476Boundary or method change
13Barking and Dagenham£8.6m£38£476Boundary or method change
14Wandsworth£14.4m£43£465Boundary or method change
15Brent£17.9m£51£463Boundary or method change
16Glasgow City£38.1m£60£463Boundary or method change
17Nottingham£16.7m£51£461Boundary or method change
18Brighton and Hove£17.3m£61£460Boundary or method change
19Greenwich£13.5m£45£460Boundary or method change
20Liverpool£33.0m£66£459Boundary or method change
21Westminster£11.1m£51£456Boundary or method change
22Salford£15.6m£54£455Boundary or method change
23Norwich£9.4m£64£454Boundary or method change
24Luton£11.4m£49£453Boundary or method change
25Portsmouth£13.4m£63£453Boundary or method change
26Ealing£19.9m£52£453Boundary or method change
27Birmingham£64.8m£55£453Boundary or method change
28Blackpool£12.6m£88£452Boundary or method change
29Slough£6.7m£41£451Boundary or method change
30Enfield£19.9m£60£451Boundary or method change
31Bristol, City of£26.1m£54£450Boundary or method change
32Knowsley£11.5m£72£449Boundary or method change
33Harlow£5.8m£61£449Boundary or method change
34Hounslow£14.9m£50£447Boundary or method change
35Southampton£14.7m£57£446Boundary or method change
36Merton£11.8m£54£446Boundary or method change
37Blaenau Gwent£5.8m£86£445Boundary or method change
38Leicester£18.8m£49£445Boundary or method change
39Coventry£21.3m£59£444Boundary or method change
40West Dunbartonshire£7.5m£84£444Boundary or method change
41Crawley£6.8m£55£444Boundary or method change
42Merthyr Tydfil£4.7m£80£443Boundary or method change
43Redbridge£16.4m£51£443Boundary or method change
44Croydon£23.0m£57£443Boundary or method change
45Broxbourne£7.3m£73£442Boundary or method change
46Wolverhampton£18.5m£67£442Boundary or method change
47City of London£0.57m£39£442Boundary or method change
48Dundee City£11.2m£75£442Boundary or method change
49Thurrock£10.1m£56£442Boundary or method change
50Hillingdon£17.6m£55£441Boundary or method change

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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