People on the main benefits, Great Britain
Average caseloads of Universal Credit, the State Pension and Personal Independence Payment in Great Britain, thousands, each financial year over ten years.
Universal Credit
5,473,000
2024/25
Verified against source, 27 October 2026, 05:50 UTC- State Pension
- Universal Credit
- Personal Independence Payment
Source: Department for Work and Pensions. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Data table
10 periods, newest first
| Period | State Pension | Universal Credit | Personal Independence Payment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024/25 | 12,987,000 | 5,473,000 | 3,570,000 |
| 2023/24 | 12,776,000 | 4,706,000 | 3,198,000 |
| 2022/23 | 12,597,000 | 4,229,000 | 2,867,000 |
| 2021/22 | 12,457,000 | 4,049,000 | 2,558,000 |
| 2020/21 | 12,379,000 | 3,873,000 | 2,360,000 |
| 2019/20 | 12,556,000 | 2,130,000 | 2,213,000 |
| 2018/19 | 12,724,000 | 1,282,000 | 1,919,000 |
| 2017/18 | 12,838,000 | 627,000 | 1,558,000 |
| 2016/17 | 12,930,000 | 373,000 | 1,056,000 |
| 2015/16 | 12,957,000 | 130,000 | 594,000 |
Source and licence
- Publisher
- Department for Work and Pensions
- Check it yourself
- https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables
- Licence
- Open Government Licence v3.0 – Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Retrieved
- 27 October 2026, 05:49 UTC
- Raw files fetched
- https://www.gov.uk/api/content/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2026SHA-256 9bba0452f74004250d14cb5b18be89d241391f1c9b0d1cf9ab49512b0a259744 · 17,171 bytes
- https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69dcdc56d3e08b8871b66628/outturn-and-forecast-tables-spring-forecast-2026.odsSHA-256 705fb8fb5ace47e37eafe0b3817d5a6de538ce8fb2a67746e8f92d15ecd616e6 · 1,646,400 bytes
Verification
Verified against source, 27 October 2026, 05:50 UTC Run at 27 October 2026, 05:50 UTC; 30 of 30 figures matched the live source.
| Result | Check | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Pass | Provenance recorded | Department for Work and Pensions; Open Government Licence v3.0; retrieved 2026-10-27T05:49:23Z; 2 raw file(s) |
| Pass | Raw files match recorded SHA-256 | 2 of 2 files intact |
| Pass | Re-parsing raw files reproduces figures | 30 of 30 figures and the headline reproduced |
| Pass | Figures are finite numbers | 30 figures, 0 invalid |
| Pass | Live source matches every figure | 30 of 30 figures match exactly after downloading 2 source file(s) again (2 byte-identical); the headline matches |
| Pass | GOV.UK table is current | latest period 2024/25 ended 575 days before retrieval (limit 800), from Outturn and forecast tables: Spring Forecast 2026 |
| Pass | Excel edition agrees | 30 of 30 figures match https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69dcdc8c6b695d635c34dcc4/outturn-and-forecast-tables-spring-forecast-2026.xlsx |
| Pass | Source page answers | https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables – HTTP 200 |
Notes
- Average caseloads over each financial year, from DWP's outturn figures; DWP's forecasts in the same tables are left out. Universal Credit counts claims (a single person or a couple), not people. DWP notes that caseloads cannot be added across benefits.