National statistics

DWP benefits statistics: February 2024

Published 13 February 2024

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

This is a summary of the National Statistics about the benefits administered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Please note that latest National Statistics for State Pension published as part of this release have been suspended. Suspension of these statistics also impacts the Benefit Combinations statistics for those above State Pension age, which have also been suspended. We will publish the suspended State Pension statistics as soon as we are able to, along with an updated statistical summary providing narrative for State Pension statistics to August 2023. State Pension statistics previously published on Stat-Xplore in November 2023, covering the period up to May 2023, remain reliable. For more information see Section 7.

1. Headlines

The main headline figures for the DWP benefits in this report

In the year to August 2023:

• Employment and Support Allowance fell by 5.3% to 1.6 million claimants

• Income Support fell by 18.3% to 140,000 claimants

• Jobseeker’s Allowance fell by 1.6% to 88,000 claimants

In the year to November 2023:

• Housing Benefit fell by 6.0% to 2.3 million claimants

Universal Credit has been replacing some older-style Working Age benefits. The latest Universal Credit Official statistics show:

• there were 6.3 million Universal Credit claimants at December 2023

People can claim more than one DWP benefit at a time. Benefit Combination statistics show:

Excluding claimants of State Pension Age, 9.9 million people claimed some combination of DWP benefits in August 2023 (of the 17 benefits included in these statistics). Of these:

• 9.3 million were of Working Age

• 660,000 were under 16 (and in receipt of Disability Living Allowance as a child)

DWP benefits by number of claimants at August 2023

Benefit	Number of claimants
Universal Credit	6,043,000
Personal Independence Payment *	3,115,000
Housing Benefit	2,370,000
Attendance Allowance	1,662,000
Employment and Support Allowance	1,584,000
Carers Allowance	1,377,000
Pension Credit	1,375,000
Disability Living Allowance *	1,240,000
Income Support	139,000
Jobseeker’s Allowance	88,000

Source: DWP benefits statistics

Notes for table

State Pension statistics are currently suspended. See the note in Section 7 for more information about this.

Figures annotated with a star (*) (Personal Independence Payment and Disability Living Allowance) exclude figures for Scotland. Please see Section 5 for details.

Figures for Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payments and Housing Benefit covering later periods are available on Stat-Xplore.

2. What you need to know

This release covers DWP benefits in Great Britain. For most benefits covered in this release the period covered is up to August 2023. For Bereavement Support Payment the period covered is up to September 2023, and for Housing Benefit data go up to November 2023. UC figures are presented to December 2023 for claimants and November 2023 for households.

More detailed figures for the benefits covered in this summary can be found using Stat-Xplore. This is an online tool that lets you create and download customised statistical tables or view the results as interactive charts.

The Scotland Act 2016 gave Scottish Parliament powers over a number of social security benefits effectively transferring policy ownership from DWP to the Scottish Government. More details are available in Section 5 of this summary.

Benefits Combinations statistics explore how benefits are claimed in combination for claimants of all ages. In response to Scottish Devolution, important presentational changes have been made to this series. For more details see the Benefit Combinations Background information note.

More information on how these statistics are produced is available through the Methodology statement and Quality statement.

3. Pensions

Suspension of State Pension statistics in this release

The latest State Pension statistics, which would have covered the period from June 2023 to August 2023, have been suspended from this release. We will publish the suspended State Pension statistics as soon as we are able to.

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, and only impacts statistics that are not yet published. Work is underway to fix these issues and we will publish the suspended State Pension statistics as soon as we are able to, along with an updated statistical summary providing narrative for State Pension statistics to August 2023.

State Pension statistics previously published on Stat-Xplore in November 2023, covering the period up to May 2023, remain reliable. This suspension follows the recent successful restoration of State Pension statistics (including GYSP data) to Stat-Xplore on 14 November 2023.

There were 12.7 million people receiving State Pension at May 2023, which is the latest time point at which these statistics are available until the series is restored. More statistics on State Pension covering the period up to May 2023 are available in the State Pension dataset on Stat-Xplore.

Pension Credit

At August 2023, there were 1.4 million people receiving Pension Credit (PC), representing a total of 1.6 million beneficiaries including partners.

A comparison of Pension Credit recipients by payment type and gender at August 2023

Type of Pension Credit	Male	Female
Guarantee Credit only	256,000	489,000
Savings Credit only	70,000	120,000
Both Guarantee Credit and Savings Credit	139,000	301,000

Source: DWP benefits statistics on Stat-Xplore.

At August 2023 roughly two thirds (66%) of people getting PC were women. There were 15,000 fewer recipients against the previous year. A long term downward trend in the PC caseload has been due to the raising of the State Pension Age and the introduction of nSP in April 2016, among other factors. However, in the latest available year, the PC caseload appears to have stabilised.

4. Housing

Housing Benefit

Housing Benefits claimants by age group at November 2023

Source: DWP benefits statistics on Stat-Xplore.

At November 2023, there were 2.3 million recipients of HB, a decrease of 150,000 on the last year. There were 1.1 million Pension Age and 1.2 million Working Age recipients. The number of Working Age recipients will continue to fall due to Universal Credit (UC). By comparison, 3.4 million households had a housing element as part of their UC assessment, of which 3.2 million were in payment.

Housing Benefit claimants by sector at November 2023

Sector	Number of claimants
Private Rented Sector	480,000
Social Rented Sector	1,840,000

Source: DWP benefits statistics on Stat-Xplore.

79% of HB recipients (1.8 million) were tenants in the Social Rented Sector and 21% were in the Private Rented Sector (480,000).

Average HB awards in the private rented sector have gone up by £4.92 in the year to November 2023. The average weekly award for private rented claims was £140.87 at November 2023. This compares to £122.41 for the social rented sector.

As of November 2023, 14% (170,000) of Working Age HB recipients had a reduction to their weekly award amount due to the Removal of Spare Room Subsidy scheme. This is where tenants in social housing whose accommodation is deemed to be larger than they need may lose part of their HB award. The average reduction amount was £17.85.

5. Health, disability and care

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA)

The Scotland Act 2016 gave Scottish Parliament powers over a number of social security benefits effectively transferring policy ownership from DWP to the Scottish Government.

Child Disability Payment is a new disability benefit administered by the Scottish Government. It replaces Disability Living Allowance for children living in Scotland. In November 2021, Child Disability Payment launched nationwide to all new applicants. The Adult Disability Payment was introduced in pilot areas from March 2022 and nationally in Scotland from August 2022. It will replace PIP and DLA for working age people in Scotland.

We are in a transitional period, where DWP still administers DLA and PIP to people in Scotland who are waiting to move onto the new benefits. However, it does so on behalf of the Scottish Government under an agreement and policy ownership has been transferred.

In light of the new benefits, which are being administered away from DWP, we have changed how we present DLA and PIP statistics in this release and Stat-Xplore.

Our DWP benefits statistics summaries now focus on DLA and PIP claims where policy ownership has been retained by DWP. Figures, charts and narratives will primarily reflect England, Wales and any unknown or abroad claims. The residual count of DLA claims in Scotland will be provided for information only, where relevant.

To reflect these changes on Stat-Xplore we added a new split to DLA geography fields to provide breakdowns based on policy ownership. Users of these statistics should make data selections based on these policy ownership lines. Please refer to the Background information note for further background information.

Statistics showing the number of applications and awards to the new Child Disability Payment and Adult Disability Payment have been released by the Scottish Government

DLA and PIP cases with entitlement by policy ownership at August 2023

Policy Ownership	DLA	PIP
DWP policy ownership	1,240,000	3,115,000
Policy devolved to Scotland	80,000	272,000
All claims administered by DWP	1,320,000	3,387,000

Source: DWP benefits statistics on Stat-Xplore.

There were 4.4 million people claiming either PIP or DLA under DWP policy ownership at August 2023, an increase of 370,000 during the last year.

The number of people claiming Personal Independence Payment or Disability Living Allowance under DWP policy ownership to August 2023

Source: DWP benefits statistics on Stat-Xplore.

As detailed above, to maintain comparability, each quarter in this series represents a count reflecting current DWP policy ownership, excluding Scotland.

Since 2013, working age adults have been moving from DLA to PIP. This has led to an increase in the number of people claiming PIP and a decrease in the number of people claiming DLA over time.

At August 2023, excluding policy devolved to Scotland, there were 3.1 million people claiming PIP, the number of claimants rose by 340,000 or 12% over the year.

There were 1.2 million people claiming DLA, with claims rising by 25,000 in the year to August 2023. Of the 1.2 million DLA claimants, a small number (8,900) were entitled to DLA but did not receive any payment (figures exclude Scotland). For example, payments can be temporarily suspended if the claimant is in hospital.

Attendance Allowance

At August 2023, in Great Britain, there were 1.7 million Attendance Allowance (AA) claimants, an increase of 100,000 from August 2022. 1.5 million claimants were receiving a payment and 140,000 (8%) were entitled to the benefit but not receiving payment. As with DLA above, AA payments can be temporarily suspended. This can happen, for example, if the claimant is in hospital.

Employment and Support Allowance

There were 1.6 million people on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) at August 2023, a decrease of 89,000 over the last year.

Employment and Support Allowance claims by type to August 2023

Source: DWP benefits statistics on Stat-Xplore.

Of the 1.6 million ESA claimants:

• 1.3 million are in the Support group

• 160,000 are in the Work-Related Activity group

• 49,000 are in the Assessment phase

• 600,000 ESA claimants are former Incapacity Benefit cases who have been migrated

Over recent years, the number of ESA claims has been decreasing because UC has replaced ESA for new income-related claims on the grounds of incapacity. Over the last year, the number of people claiming ESA has decreased by 5.3% (89,000).

In the period to May 2021, the Work Capability Assessment process for ESA was adversely affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. However, more recently DWP has resumed usual assessment processes with some additional measures to help recovery. For more information see the most recent ESA Work Capability Assessment statistics.

Figures for other incapacity benefits are available on Stat-Xplore.

Carer’s Allowance

The total number of people claiming Carer’s Allowance (CA) at August 2023 was 1.4 million, 1.3% higher than at August 2022.

Of the total number claiming Carer’s Allowance, 29% (390,000) were entitled to the benefit but do not receive payments. This is because they receive another benefit (such as Incapacity Benefit for people of working age, or State Pension for people of State Pension age) which equals or exceeds their weekly rate of CA. Where the overlapping benefit paid is less than the weekly rate of CA, only the amount of CA which exceeds the amount of the overlapping benefit is paid.

Recipients of Carer’s Allowance in Scotland are eligible for Carer’s Allowance Supplement (CAS), which is payable once every 6 months.

CAS statistics are released by the Scottish Government.

Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit

The total number of people claiming under the Industrial Injuries Scheme (IIS) at June 2023 was 240,000.

The Industrial Injuries Scheme provides non-contributory no-fault benefits for disablement because of an accident at work, or because of one of over 70 prescribed diseases known to be a risk from certain jobs. Please see the IIDB technical guidance for more information on the scheme.

Of the total number claiming under this scheme, 170,000 claimed Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) alone, 34,000 claimed IIDB with Reduced Earnings Allowance and Retirement Allowance and 31,000 claimed Reduced Earnings Allowance and Retirement Allowance only.

In the quarter ending June 2023, there were 2,600 new claims under the IIS and 2,900 assessments were completed. Of the completed assessments 1,200 resulted in a payable award.

In September 2023 under the Pneumoconiosis (Worker’s Compensation) Act 1979, £1,300,000 was awarded to 80 claimants. Under the 2008 Mesothelioma Scheme, £440,000 was awarded to 20 claimants.

Further breakdowns are available on Stat-Xplore.

6. Other working age benefits

The number of people claiming Income Support and Jobseeker’s Allowance to August 2023

Source: DWP benefits statistics on Stat-Xplore.

Jobseeker’s Allowance

Between August 2012 and March 2020, the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) fell substantially. Universal Credit has been replacing income-based JSA since April 2013. The JSA scheme is now only open to contributory-based claims called New Style JSA. New Style JSA awards have a maximum duration of 182 days.

During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, claims for JSA went up substantially, but have since fallen below pre-pandemic levels. There were 88,000 JSA claimants at August 2023.

Data on the ethnicity of people claiming JSA had been adversely affected during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and ethnicity information was missing for a greater proportion of claims. Ethnicity information collection has improved for newer JSA claims, but the field should still be treated with caution. For more information see the Background information note.

Income Support

Universal Credit has replaced Income Support (IS) and new applications for IS can no longer be made to DWP. For more on the eligibility criteria for existing claims please see Income Support information.

At August 2023, the total number of people claiming IS was 140,000, a decrease of 31,000 (18%) over the last year. Lone parents represent 43% of the people remaining on IS, and carers represent 56%. The number of people claiming IS due to incapacity has now fallen to 90.

Bereavement Support Payment

Bereavement Support Payment recipients by rate of payment to September 2023

Source: DWP benefits statistics on Stat-Xplore.

Since April 2017, the Bereavement Support Payment (BSP) has grown steadily, peaking at 58,000 recipients in April 2021. Since then, the numbers of recipients fell by about 7% to 54,000 in October 2021, before more recently fluctuating between 50,000 and 56,000.

At September 2023, there were 52,000 people receiving BSP. 41,000 (79%) were receiving the standard rate of BSP, while 11,000 (21%) were receiving the higher rate. The higher rate is paid to claimants entitled to Child Benefit. BSP was introduced in April 2017 and replaced Widowed Parents Allowance, Bereavement Allowance and the Bereavement Payment.

On 9 February 2023, Bereavement Support Payment eligibility was extended to unmarried cohabiting parents bereaved on or after 6 April 2017 who were living together on the date of death. Previously it was only available to eligible bereaved parents who were married or in a civil partnership. Depending on the circumstances of the claim, newly eligible claimants may receive a backdated lump sum payment back to 30 August 2018 (the date that eligibility was extended back to). For more information on the extension of Bereavement Benefits eligibility, see the department’s press release.

7. About these statistics

This is a summary of the latest National Statistics about the benefits administered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Data are released on a quarterly basis in:

• February

• May

• August

• November

This summary is released every February and August.

The DWP Benefits statistics publication was last assessed by the Office for Statistical Regulation (OSR) in November 2020. OSR has officially confirmed that the publication has retained its National Statistics designation. The designation of National Statistics is in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

The statistics in the DWP benefits statistics release, and those used in this statistical summary, are all National Statistics except:

• Personal Independence Payments (Official Statistics)

• Universal Credit (Official Statistics)

• Benefit Combinations (Official Statistics)

• Bereavement Support Payment (Official Statistics)

• Housing Benefit Flows (Official Statistics)

Official Statistics are produced in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and the Code of Practice for Statistics and meet high standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value.

The statistics in this publication are affected by the introduction of Universal Credit. Universal Credit was introduced in April 2013 in certain pathfinder areas of North West England. Between October 2013 and December 2018, Universal Credit was progressively rolled out and is now available in every jobcentre across the country.

Universal Credit is replacing:

• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance

• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance

• Housing Benefit for Working Age claimants

• Income Support

• Working Tax Credit

• Child Tax Credit

Please see Universal Credit statistics for information on the number of people and households on Universal Credit.

Information on the following benefits is published separately:

• Benefit Sanctions statistics

• Child Support Agency cases statistics

• Maternity Allowance statistics

Where to find out more

Find previous releases of this data.

More detailed statistical tables covering all National Statistics for DWP benefits can be found using Stat-Xplore. This is an online tool that lets you create and download customised statistical tables, and view the results in interactive charts.

Data tables are provided where data is not available on Stat-Xplore.

Read our policies and statements for background information on DWP National and Official benefit statistics, including some of the processes involved in developing and releasing these statistics.

Known issues, changes and revisions

Suspension of State Pension Statistics in this release

The latest National Statistics for State Pension due to be published as part of this release have been suspended. Suspension of these statistics also impacts the Benefit Combinations statistics for those above State Pension age, which have also been suspended. We will publish the suspended State Pension statistics as soon as we are able to.

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, and only impacts statistics that are not yet published. Work is underway to fix these issues and we will publish the suspended State Pension statistics as soon as we are able to, along with an updated statistical summary providing narrative for State Pension statistics to August 2023.

State Pension statistics previously published on Stat-Xplore in November 2023, covering the period up to May 2023, remain reliable. This suspension follows the recent successful restoration of State Pension statistics (including GYSP data) to Stat-Xplore on 14 November 2023.

8. Contact information and feedback

For more information about this release, contact: benefits.statistics@dwp.gov.uk.

DWP would like to hear your views on our statistical publications. If you use any of our statistics publications, we would be interested in hearing what you use them for and how well they meet your requirements. Email benefits.statistics@dwp.gov.uk with your feedback.

You can also join the Welfare and Benefit Statistics community on StatsUserNet. DWP announces items of interest to users in this forum, as well as replying to users’ questions.

Authors: Ian Forbes, Ismail Ali, Ronald Forbes and Sayra Abdul

Lead statistician: Tonia Hagan

ISBN: 978-1-78659-408-2