DWP benefits statistics: May 2023
Statistics on the main benefits administered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
Documents
Details
This is a quarterly National Statistics release of the main DWP-administered benefits via Stat-Xplore or supplementary tables where appropriate.
Scottish devolution: changes to the presentation of DWP statistics
The devolution of social security benefits to the Scottish Government is now having an impact DWP statistics.
On Stat-Xplore, we added a split to Disability Living Allowance (DLA) geography fields to provide breakdowns based on policy ownership. Users of these statistics should make data selections based on these policy ownership lines.
Statistics showing the number of applications and awards to the new Child Disability Payment have been released by the Scottish government. Similar statistics for Adult Disability Payment covering its initial roll out phase are also available.
Please refer to our background information note for more information on presentational changes we have made to our statistics in response to Scottish devolution.
Housing Benefit: Gloucester City Council
As a result of a criminal cyber-attack, Gloucester City Council is unable to supply DWP with Housing Benefit (HB) data until further notice. This has affected Housing Benefit statistics from December 2021. Data problems are unlikely to be fixed for the foreseeable future. Until then, HB statistics that cover Gloucester will be derived from earlier data using the same approach we previously adopted for Hackney Borough Council.
Please refer to the background information note for more information on how we have managed these interruptions and the impacts to our statistics.
State Pension
During 2019, a new DWP computer system called “Get Your State Pension” (GYSP) came online to handle State Pension claims. The GYSP system is now handling a sizeable proportion of new claims.
We are not yet able to include GYSP system data in our published statistics for State Pension. The number of GYSP cases are too high to allow us to continue to publish State Pension data on Stat-Xplore. In the short term, we will provide GYSP estimates based on payment systems data. As a temporary measure, State Pension statistics will be published via data tables only. The latest release contains State Pensions estimates for the quarters to November 2022.
A biannual release of supplementary tables to show State Pension deferment increments and proportions of beneficiaries receiving a full amount has been suspended. This release is normally based on a 5% sample of the legacy computer system. Given the absence of GYSP data, the figures are affected by the same issues as described above. The latest available time period for these figures remains September 2020.
We are developing new statistical datasets to properly represent both computer systems. Once we have quality assured the new data it will be published on Stat-Xplore, including a refresh of historical data using the best data available.
For more information, see the background information note.
More information
A statistical summary document is published every six months in February and August each year. It contains a high-level summary of the latest National Statistics on DWP benefits. Commentary on Benefit Combination statistics is now included twice a year as part of this collection. Benefit Combinations statistics are released quarterly on Stat-Xplore.
Find further information about the publication and statistics, including details on changes and revisions, in the background and methodology documents.
Further information about this release can be found on the DWP benefits statistics collection page and in the “Welfare and Benefits” community on StatsUserNet.
If you have any comments or questions, get in touch at: benefits.statistics@dwp.gov.uk