DWP benefits statistics: May 2024
Statistics on the main benefits administered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
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This is a quarterly National Statistics release of the main DWP-administered benefits via Stat-Xplore or supplementary tables where appropriate.
Statistics on Maternity Allowance and Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit are also published as part of this release.
Continued suspension of State Pension statistics from the May 2024 statistical release
The release of National Statistics for State Pension – published on Tuesday 14 May 2024 as part of this quarterly DWP Benefits Statistics release – remains suspended. This follows the suspension of State Pension statistics from the previous release of DWP Benefits Statistics on Tuesday 13 February 2024.
Suspension of these statistics also impacts the Benefit Combinations statistics for those above State Pension age, which have also been suspended.
This delay results from issues with internal processing of State Pension data after it was sent for analysis from the Get Your State Pension (GYSP) system. This only impacts statistics that are not yet published. State Pension statistics previously published on Stat-Xplore in November 2023 remain reliable.
We have now applied fixes to correct the data processing issues, and work is underway to test and ensure they produce the correct outputs for the State Pension statistics. When we have completed rigorous quality assurance, we will be able to confirm the date when the suspended State Pension statistics will be reinstated. The statistics will cover the period from June 2023 to November 2023. We will provide a further update on this page on Thursday 13 June 2024.
Other statistics usually published as part of this release, including working age Benefit Combinations, are unaffected by the above issue.
Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit: Delay in release of statistics originally due for publication in May 2024
The release of Official Statistics for Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) – originally scheduled for Tuesday 14 May 2024 as part of this quarterly DWP Benefits Statistics release – has been delayed. This delay does not impact any other statistics. We will publish the IIDB statistics (in full) on Thursday 13 June 2024 at 9:30am.
The delay results from issues in comparison testing of IIDB data following data loading. This only affects statistics that are not yet published. Fixes have now been applied to correct the issues and work is underway to test and produce the IIDB data.
Housing Benefit: Data issues with “Passporting Status” field on Stat-Xplore
Labelling issues were identified in the Passported Benefit Status field for some Local Authorities, between September 2023 and February 2024. This is a data tabulation error in the administrative system used by Local Authorities. As a result, the field has been supressed while we review this. Other fields, including overall totals and actual claims, are not affected.
Housing Benefit: Na h-Eileanan Siar Council data
Housing benefit data covering the period from October 2023 onwards are affected by an interruption in the supply of data from Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles) Council. As a result of a criminal cyber-attack, Na h-Eileanan Siar Council is unable to supply DWP with Housing Benefit data until further notice. Until the data supply is restored, HB statistics that cover Na h-Eileanan Siar Council will be derived from earlier data using the same approach we previously adopted for Hackney and Gloucester.
Please refer to our background information note for more information on the impacts to our statistics and how we have managed this interruption.