How many people claim Pension Credit?
About 1.38 million people received Pension Credit on average in 2024 to 2025, at a cost of £6.0 billion, according to DWP's benefit expenditure and caseload tables. It tops up weekly income to a minimum level, £238.00 for a single person and £363.25 for a couple from April 2026, and can unlock help with housing costs and council tax.
Not everyone entitled claims it. DWP's take-up estimates, published on 30 October 2025, found that 62% of those entitled claimed it in 2023 to 2024. Up to 910,000 entitled families did not claim, leaving up to £2.5 billion unclaimed, around £2,600 a year for each family.
Take-up figures come from a survey and cover Great Britain only, with no local breakdown. Caseloads by area are in Stat-Xplore; how to apply is on GOV.UK.
When is the next figure out?
DWP statistics are pre-announced on the GOV.UK research and statistics calendar and published at 9:30am. Universal Credit statistics moved from monthly to quarterly releases in February, May, August and November after a 2026 consultation, with the final monthly release on 14 April 2026; provisional estimates were dropped and each quarterly release adds three months of finalised data. The benefits compendium, Benefit Combinations and National Insurance number allocations are now released together once a year. Fraud and error estimates appear each spring, and expenditure tables follow the Budget and spring forecast.
Every official release due in the next two weeks is on the release calendar.
Where the figures come from
- Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) statistics and Stat-XploreWhere to find DWP figures on Universal Credit, PIP, State Pension and Pension Credit, how to build a Stat-Xplore table and use the free Open Data API.
Related questions
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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 pensions and retirement: all Pensions and retirement questions.