Who Gets What

How does my area compare?

Tendring has the highest benefit spending per resident in 2024-25.

All the benefits on this site: pensioner, disability, carer, working-age and housing benefits paid by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). In Scotland, it includes the Social Security Scotland benefits that replace some of them. Shown in 2026-27 prices, adjusted for inflation so that years can be compared.

Benefit spending, per resident, 2024-25, by local authority

Selected Blackpool: £6,111 per resident, 2024-25, 3rd of 348 local authorities.

Per resident, low to high

  1. Under £3,680
  2. £3,680 to £4,125
  3. £4,125 to £4,570
  4. £4,570 to £5,015
  5. £5,015 to £5,460
  6. £5,460 and over
  • Estimated value
Benefit spending, per resident, 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 resident are drawn in dark lines, and the selected area in gold.

TotalPer resident1348Tendring 1East Lindsey 2Blackpool 3North Ayrshire 4Blaenau Gwent 5Neath Port Talbot 6Thanet 7Inverclyde 8West Dunbartonshire 9Hartlepool 10

What changed

More people, more claims or bigger payments?

Blackpool, 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
£279.8mFebruary 2023+£3.8mPopulation+£7.1mShare claiming+£36.2mPayment size£326.9mMarch 2026
What changed: State Pension
February 2023£279.8m
Population+£3.8m
Share claiming+£7.1m
Payment size+£36.2m
March 2026£326.9m
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?

Benefit spending per resident, 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 = £765 − £935 × share aged 0 to 15 + £9,046 × share aged 66 and over − £177 × deprivation decile + £267 × ln(median pay) + £581 × Wales + £224 × Scotland. Fitted by ordinary least squares across 346 local authorities. R² = 0.87. Gold dots are above the expected level and grey dots are below it.

Every local authority

Benefit spending, 2024-25. Rank is for per resident, 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.

Benefit spending for every local authority, 2024-25
RankNotes
1Tendring£977.9m£6,252
2East Lindsey£901.2m£6,200
3Blackpool£876.0m£6,111
4North Ayrshire£810.9m£6,059Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
5Blaenau Gwent£408.2m£6,029
6Neath Port Talbot£848.4m£5,948
7Thanet£843.2m£5,932
8Inverclyde£464.9m£5,905Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
9West Dunbartonshire£523.3m£5,891Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
10Hartlepool£575.2m£5,878
11North Norfolk£602.9m£5,829
12Torbay£815.2m£5,829
13Isle of Wight£822.4m£5,818
14Great Yarmouth£584.4m£5,805
15Rother£555.9m£5,794
16Merthyr Tydfil£339.5m£5,782
17Conwy£659.8m£5,766
18Denbighshire£563.0m£5,753
19Dumfries and Galloway£837.9m£5,742Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
20Redcar and Cleveland£788.3m£5,680
21South Tyneside£854.6m£5,669
22Caerphilly£999.1m£5,669
23Knowsley£916.6m£5,668
24Hastings£510.3m£5,607
25Torfaen£526.7m£5,601
26South Ayrshire£627.0m£5,585Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
27Wirral£1.8bn£5,562
28Eastbourne£579.2m£5,555
29Sunderland£1.6bn£5,529
30Isle of Anglesey£377.3m£5,478
31Carmarthenshire£1.0bn£5,470
32Sefton£1.6bn£5,468
33East Ayrshire£660.3m£5,442Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
34Folkestone and Hythe£607.8m£5,432
35Liverpool£2.7bn£5,403
36Enfield£1.8bn£5,397
37Wyre£636.0m£5,373
38County Durham£2.9bn£5,351
39Pembrokeshire£671.8m£5,346
40Rhondda Cynon Taf£1.3bn£5,345
41Halton£700.6m£5,338
42Torridge£372.0m£5,337
43St. Helens£1.0bn£5,327
44Bridgend£781.0m£5,310
45North East Lincolnshire£843.9m£5,283
46Arun£901.8m£5,283
47Clackmannanshire£273.7m£5,266Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
48East Suffolk£1.3bn£5,259
49Dundee City£784.1m£5,251Estimated, Includes Scottish benefits
50Dorset£2.0bn£5,217

League table of every local authority for the latest period

Values are per resident 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

Choose a measure

Search benefit spending, people receiving benefits and income tax