How many people claim benefits in the UK?

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.

Official sources: DWP benefits statistics summary · Stat-Xplore

The latest figure

The newest value is at Office for National Statistics (ONS). More on it: UK economic inactivity rate.

When is the next figure out?

Monthly, usually a Tuesday in the middle of the month, 7am (ONS labour market release); next release 20 October 2026

Every official release due in the next two weeks is on the release calendar.

Terms used in this answer

• Seasonally adjusted
  Figures that have had regular calendar patterns removed, such as Christmas shopping or summer jobs, so that underlying movements between months or quarters can be seen.
• Claimant count
  The number of people claiming benefits principally because they are unemployed: Jobseeker's Allowance and Universal Credit claimants required to look for work.
• Administrative data
  Information collected by organisations while running a service, such as tax records, benefit claims or hospital activity, and then used to produce statistics.
• Economic inactivity
  People who are not in work and not looking for or available for work, such as students, carers, retired people and those who are long-term sick.
• ILO unemployment
  The internationally agreed definition of unemployment: people without a job who have looked for work in the past four weeks and can start within two weeks.
• Rolling average
  An average recalculated each period over a fixed window, such as the latest three months or twelve months, to smooth out short-term ups and downs.

Where the figures come from

• UK tax rates, allowances and taxpayer statistics (GOV.UK, HMRC, OBR, Revenue Scotland and Welsh Revenue Authority)
  Where to check official UK income tax bands, National Insurance, VAT, stamp duty, inheritance tax and taxpayer numbers, and how to test tax claims.
• Social care, childcare and children's social care statistics (DHSC, NHS England, Skills for Care, DfE, ONS and devolved bodies)
  Where to find official figures on care homes, social care staff, delayed discharge, unpaid carers, free childcare, childcare costs and children in care.
• HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) official statistics
  Find HMRC monthly tax receipts and NICs, annual receipts, income tax liabilities, the tax gap, personal incomes and UK trade data, and how to read them.

Related questions

• How many people claim Universal Credit?
• How much does the UK spend on benefits?
• How many people claim PIP?

This answer says where the official figures are published and how they are defined. It gives no verdict on any claim. To report an error, send a correction request. More questions about benefits and pensions: all Benefits and pensions questions.