Question 1

How many people claim benefits in the UK?

Accepted Answer

DWP publishes caseloads for each benefit rather than a single headline total, because many people receive more than one. The quickest overview is DWP's benefits statistics summary; detailed counts by benefit, area, age and other details are in Stat-Xplore. Total claimant numbers for each benefit by year, with forecasts, are in the benefit expenditure and caseload tables. Northern Ireland runs its own system, so its figures come from the Department for Communities.

Question 2

How many people claim PIP?

Accepted Answer

DWP publishes Personal Independence Payment statistics quarterly, covering new claims, clearances, awards, the main disabling condition and the number of people receiving it. The data is for England and Wales; Scotland has replaced PIP with Adult Disability Payment, which Social Security Scotland reports. For trends, compare claims in payment over time in Stat-Xplore and check whether a claim counts new awards or everyone receiving the benefit.

Question 3

How much is lost to benefit fraud?

Accepted Answer

DWP's annual "Fraud and error in the benefit system" statistics estimate overpayments caused by fraud, claimant error and official error, plus underpayments, as amounts in pounds and as a percentage of spending for each benefit. These are estimates from reviewing a sample of cases, with confidence intervals. Fraud, error and underpayment are separate figures, so a claim should not add them together and call the total "fraud".

Question 4

How much does the UK spend on benefits?

Accepted Answer

DWP's benefit expenditure and caseload tables give annual spending on every benefit it runs in Great Britain, with outturn for past years and forecasts for the years ahead. They are updated after each Budget and spring forecast. Pensioner benefits, mainly the State Pension, account for more than half of the total. When a claim talks about "welfare spending", check whether it includes pensions, housing support and tax credits, and whether it is in cash or real terms.

Question 5

How many people claim Universal Credit?

Accepted Answer

DWP publishes Universal Credit statistics with the number of people on Universal Credit, the number of households, and how many are in work. The data covers Great Britain and is broken down by conditionality group, such as searching for work or no work requirements. Releases moved from monthly to quarterly after April 2026, and Stat-Xplore holds the monthly series. Part of the rise in Universal Credit numbers comes from moving people over from older benefits it replaced, so compare totals across all the benefits it replaced before drawing conclusions about growth.

Question 6

How many people get the State Pension?

Accepted Answer

DWP publishes State Pension caseloads through Stat-Xplore, split between the old basic State Pension and the new State Pension for people reaching pension age from April 2016. The benefit expenditure and caseload tables show the annual cost, which is the largest single item in the welfare budget. State Pension age is rising from 66 to 67 between 2026 and 2028, which affects both caseloads and spending. The legislated timetable is on GOV.UK.

Question 7

What is Stat-Xplore and how do I use it?

Accepted Answer

Stat-Xplore is DWP's free online tool for building your own tables of benefit statistics. Choose a dataset (for example Universal Credit people on UC), drag variables such as month, local authority or age onto the rows and columns, then download as CSV or Excel. You can use it without an account, but registering lets you save tables and get an API key for the Open Data API. Our Stat-Xplore guide walks through a table step by step.

Benefits and pensions: your questions answered