Who Gets What

How does my area compare?

Birmingham Perry Barr has the highest spending on Jobseeker's Allowance per person aged 16 to 64 in 2023-24.

Money for people looking for work, based on the National Insurance they have paid. Shown in 2026-27 prices, adjusted for inflation so that years can be compared.

Spending on Jobseeker's Allowance, per person aged 16 to 64, 2023-24, by constituency

Per person aged 16 to 64, low to high

  1. Under £5.70
  2. £5.70 to £7.87
  3. £7.87 to £10
  4. £10 to £12
  5. £12 to £14
  6. £14 and over
Spending on Jobseeker's Allowance, per person aged 16 to 64, 2023-24, by constituency. 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 632 ranked constituencies. It joins the area's rank for each way of counting. The 10 highest per person aged 16 to 64 are drawn in dark lines.

TotalPer residentPer person aged 16 to 641632Birmingham Perry Barr 1Birmingham Ladywood 2South Shields 3Stourbridge 4Dudley 5Birmingham Edgbaston 6Hackney North and Stoke Newington 7Sunderland Central 8North Ayrshire and Arran 9Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough 10

What changed

More people, more claims or bigger payments?

Great Britain, Jobseeker's Allowance: 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.

£422.0mFebruary 2023+£4.2mPopulation−£76.4mShare claiming+£8.4mPayment size£358.2mMarch 2026
What changed: Jobseeker's Allowance
February 2023£422.0m
Population+£4.2m
Share claiming−£76.4m
Payment size+£8.4m
March 2026£358.2m
The share claiming is the number of people claiming per person aged 16 to 64. 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 working-age benefits per person aged 16 to 64, 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 = −£2,631 + £5,734 × share aged 0 to 15 + £551 × share aged 66 and over − £201 × deprivation decile + £429 × ln(median pay) + £353 × Wales + £111 × Scotland. Fitted by ordinary least squares across 626 constituencies. R² = 0.85. Gold dots are above the expected level and grey dots are below it.

Every constituency

Spending on Jobseeker's Allowance, 2023-24. Rank is for per person aged 16 to 64, and 1 is the highest. Areas with fewer than 1,000 people in the age group have no rank. The first 50 of 632 rows are shown.

Spending on Jobseeker's Allowance for every constituency, 2023-24
RankNotes
1Birmingham Perry Barr£1.8m£14£22
2Birmingham Ladywood£2.5m£16£21
3South Shields£1.1m£13£21
4Stourbridge£1.2m£13£21
5Dudley£1.3m£13£21
6Birmingham Edgbaston£1.3m£12£18
7Hackney North and Stoke Newington£1.5m£13£18
8Sunderland Central£1.2m£11£18
9North Ayrshire and Arran£0.97m£11£18
10Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough£1.2m£11£17
11Wolverhampton South East£1.4m£11£17
12Hackney South and Shoreditch£1.5m£13£17
13Birmingham Erdington£1.3m£11£17
14Folkestone and Hythe£0.89m£9.56£16
15Washington and Gateshead South£0.95m£9.96£16
16Tipton and Wednesbury£1.2m£10£16
17Nottingham North and Kimberley£1.1m£10£16
18Kingston upon Hull East£1.0m£9.89£16
19Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North£1.2m£9.93£16
20West Bromwich£1.1m£9.89£16
21Liverpool West Derby£0.99m£9.86£16
22Stoke-on-Trent North£0.97m£9.49£16
23Bolton North East£1.1m£9.33£15
24Glasgow North East£1.2m£11£15
25Houghton and Sunderland South£0.95m£9.13£15
26Smethwick£1.1m£9.53£15
27Ynys Môn£0.58m£8.39£15
28Birmingham Yardley£1.1m£9.38£15
29Halesowen£0.86m£8.94£15
30Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley£1.1m£9.45£15
31Jarrow and Gateshead East£0.86m£8.94£15
32Birmingham Northfield£0.97m£8.93£15
33Bootle£0.95m£9.21£15
34Leeds South£1.3m£9.81£15
35Bradford East£1.1m£9.22£14
36Nottingham East£1.3m£11£14
37Sheffield Heeley£0.99m£9.08£14
38Ashfield£0.84m£8.70£14
39Wolverhampton North East£0.93m£8.60£14
40Wigan£0.94m£8.74£14
41Queen's Park and Maida Vale£1.2m£10£14
42Stoke-on-Trent Central£1.1m£9.02£14
43Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice£0.91m£8.45£14
44Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham£1.1m£8.78£13
45Islington South and Finsbury£1.2m£10£13
46Liverpool Wavertree£0.99m£9.23£13
47Birmingham Selly Oak£0.98m£8.97£13
48Islington North£1.1m£9.90£13
49Darlington£0.81m£8.11£13
50Stockton North£0.85m£8.19£13

League table of every constituency for the latest period

Values are per person aged 16 to 64 unless a column says otherwise. Sources: Department for Work and Pensions, Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland.

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