National statistics

DWP benefits statistics: February 2022

Updated 25 February 2022

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

The latest release of these statistics can be found in the collection of benefit statistics.

This is a summary of the National Statistics about the benefits administered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

1. Headlines

The main headline figures for the DWP benefits in this report

In the year to August 2021:

• the number of people receiving the State Pension rose by 0.7% to 12.5 million
• Jobseeker’s Allowance fell by 59% to 140,000 claimants
• Employment and Support Allowance is at 1.8 million claimants
• Income Support fell to 220,000 claimants

In the year to November 2021:

• Housing Benefit fell to 2.7 million claimants

The periods covered by this release were affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Universal Credit has been replacing some older-style Working Age benefits. The latest Universal Credit Official statistics show:

• there were 5.7 million Universal Credit claimants at November 2021

People can claim more than one DWP benefit at a time. Experimental Benefit Combination statistics show:

23 million people claimed some combination of DWP benefits in August 2021 (of the benefits included in these statistics). Of whom:

• 12.6 million were of State Pension Age, 29% of whom were claiming more than one benefit

• 9.5 million were of Working Age, 32% of whom were claiming more than one benefit

• 570,000 were under the age of 16 and in receipt of Disability Living Allowance as a child

DWP benefits by number of claimants at August 2021

Benefit	Number of claimants
State Pension	12,452,000
Universal Credit	5,806,000
Housing Benefit	2,776,000
Personal Independence Payment	2,773,000
Employment and Support Allowance	1,784,000
Attendance Allowance	1,514,000
Pension Credit	1,420,000
Disability Living Allowance	1,347,000
Carer’s Allowance	1,304,000
Income Support	217,000
Jobseeker’s Allowance	137,000

Source: DWP benefits statistics.

Figures for Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payments and Housing Benefit covering later periods are available on Stat-Xplore.

2. What you need to know

This release covers DWP benefits in Great Britain. For most benefits covered in this release the period covered is up to August 2021. For Bereavement Support Payment the period covered is up to September 2021, and for Housing Benefit data go up to November 2021. UC figures are presented to December 2021 for claimants and November 2021 for households.

More detailed figures for the benefits covered in this summary can be found using Stat-Xplore. This is an online tool that lets you create and download customised statistical tables or view the results as interactive charts.

Latest State Pension estimates are not available on Stat-Xplore for this release and are provided through supplementary State Pension tables on a temporary basis. Please see Section 7 for more information about this.

Figures for this release reflect the disruptions caused by the coronavirus (COVID 19) pandemic, which has led to some changes in operational procedures. Such changes were necessary to process claims while keeping customers and staff safe, while ensuring those eligible received their benefits. For more information on some of these changes see the Background information note.

The Scottish Government have started to administer a new benefit called Child Disability Payment. This will eventually replace Disability Living Allowance for children living in Scotland. More details are available in section 5 of this summary.

Experimental Benefits Combinations statistics explore how benefits are claimed in combination for claimants of all ages. Benefit Combinations statistics now include Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit claimants and Under 16 DLA claimants, alongside updates to its methodology. For more details see the Benefit Combinations Background information note.

For more information on how these statistics are produced, see our Methodology statement and Quality statement.

3. Pensions

State Pension

People receiving State Pension by type to August 2021

Source: DWP benefits statistics.

The State Pension caseload has increased modestly over the last year. There were 12.5 million people receiving the State Pension at August 2021, an increase of 88,000 on a year earlier. In December 2018, the State Pension Age was raised above 65 for both men and women, initially resulting in fewer new claims. However, since October 2020 the minimum State Pension Age has stood still at 66 years. A further raising of the State Pension Age will begin from 2026.

The new State Pension (nSP) was introduced for people reaching State Pension Age from 6 April 2016. At August 2021 there were 2.2 million people receiving nSP, an increase of 620,000 on a year earlier.

New State Pension

Comparison of average weekly amounts of State Pension by type and gender at August 2021

State Pension type	Male	Female
New State Pension	£170.50	£164.74
Pre-2016 State Pension	£172.64	£145.87

Source: DWP benefits statistics.

At August 2021 the average (mean) weekly payment for people receiving State Pension was £159.11, an increase of £4.37 since August 2020.

The nSP average (mean) weekly payment was £168.40 (including any Protected Payments).

The introduction of nSP has evened out some of the gap between the average weekly payments for men and women, as women tend to get more under the new rules than under the Pre-2016 rules. However, due to earlier timetabled increases in women’s State Pension Age fewer women have joined the nSP than men.

Pension Credit

At February 2021, there were 1.4 million people receiving Pension Credit (PC), representing a total of 1.6 million beneficiaries including partners.

A comparison of Pension Credit recipients by payment type and gender at August 2021

Type of Pension Credit	Male	Female
Guarantee Credit only	250,000	480,000
Savings Credit only	86,000	130,000
Both Guarantee and Savings Credit	160,000	320,000

Source: DWP benefits statistics.

There were 72,000 fewer recipients against the previous year. Nearly two thirds (65%) of people getting PC were women. The downward trend in overall PC caseload is due to the raising of the State Pension Age and the introduction of nSP in April 2016, among other factors.

4. Housing

Housing Benefit

Housing Benefits claimants by age group at November 2021

Source: DWP benefits statistics.

At November 2021, there were 2.7 million recipients of HB, a decrease of 270,000 on the last year. There were 1.1 million Pension Age and 1.6 million Working Age recipients. The number of Working Age recipients will continue to fall due to Universal Credit (UC). By comparison, 3.0 million households had a housing element as part of their UC assessment, of which 2.7 million were in payment.

Housing Benefit claimants by sector at November 2021

Sector	Number of claimants
Private Rented Sector	620,000
Social Rented Sector	2,100,000

Source: DWP benefits statistics.

77% of HB recipients (2.1 million) were tenants in the Social Rented Sector and 23% were in the Private Rented Sector (620,000).

Average HB awards in the private rented sector have gone up by £2.40 in the year to November 2021. The average weekly award for private rented claims was £132.90 at November 2021. This compares to £104.50 for the social rented sector.

As at November 2021, 14% (220,000) of Working Age HB recipients had a reduction to their weekly award amount due to the Removal of Spare Room Subsidy scheme. This is where tenants in social housing whose accommodation is deemed to be larger than they need may lose part of their HB award. The average reduction amount was £16.15.

5. Health, disability and care

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA)

There were 4.1 million people claiming either PIP or DLA at August 2021, an increase of 160,000 during the last year.

The number of people claiming Personal Independence Payment or Disability Living Allowance to August 2021

Source: DWP benefits statistics.

Since 2013, working age adults have been moving from DLA to PIP. This has led to an increase in the number of people claiming PIP and a decrease in the number of people claiming DLA over time.

At August 2021, there were 2.8 million people claiming PIP, and 1.3 million people claiming DLA. The number of people claiming PIP rose by 200,000 while DLA claims fell by 37,000 in the year to August 2021. Transfers from DLA to PIP were affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic – see the Background information note for more details.

Of the 1.3 million DLA claimants, a small number (13,000) were entitled to DLA but did not receive any payment. For example, payments can be temporarily suspended if the claimant is in hospital.

In 2021, the Scottish Government began to administer a new benefit called Child Disability Payment, which will eventually replace DLA for children living in Scotland. From the 26 July 2021, new applications were taken in Scotland for Child Disability Payment for children under 16 that lived in the pilot areas of Dundee City, Na h-Eileanan Siar and Perth and Kinross. On 22 November 2021, Child Disability Payment launched across Scotland to all new child applicants who were residents there.

The Disability Living Allowance figures presented to the end of August 2021 overlaps with the launch of Child Disability Payment in the pilot areas in Scotland detailed above. This overlap accounts for approximately five weeks where new applications for Child Disability Payment in these areas were taken and will have minimal impact on the figures shown on Stat-Xplore.

Attendance Allowance

At August 2021, there were 1.5 million Attendance Allowance (AA) claimants, a decrease of 19,000 from August 2020. 1.4 million claimants were receiving a payment and 120,000 (8%) were entitled to the benefit but not receiving payment. As with DLA above, AA payments can be temporarily suspended for instance, if the claimant is in hospital.

Employment and Support Allowance

There were 1.8 million people on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) at August 2021, a decrease of 100,000 over the last year.

Employment and Support Allowance claims by type to August 2021

Source: DWP benefits statistics.

Of the 1.8 million ESA claimants:

• 1.5 million are in the Support group
• 190,000 are in the Work-Related Activity group
• 71,000 are in the Assessment phase
• 720,000 ESA claimants are former IB cases who have been migrated

Over recent years, the number of ESA claims has been decreasing because UC has replaced ESA for new income-related claims on the grounds of incapacity. Over the last year, the number of people claiming ESA has decreased by 5.4% (100,000).

The Work Capability Assessment process for ESA has been affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. For more information see the most recent ESA Work Capability Assessment statistics.

Figures for other incapacity benefits are available on Stat-Xplore.

Carer’s Allowance

The total number of people claiming Carer’s Allowance (CA) at August 2021 was 1.3 million, the same as at August 2020.

Of the total number claiming Carer’s Allowance, 29% (370,000) were entitled to the benefit but do not receive payments.

Recipients of Carer’s Allowance in Scotland are eligible for Carer’s Allowance Supplement (CAS), which is payable once every 6 months.

CAS statistics are released by the Scottish Government.

Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit

The total number of people claiming under the Industrial Injuries Scheme (IIS) at June 2021 was 250,000.

The Industrial Injuries Scheme provides non-contributory no-fault benefits for disablement because of an accident at work, or because of one of over 70 prescribed diseases known to be a risk from certain jobs. Please see the IIDB technical guidance for more information on the scheme.

Of the total number claiming under this scheme, 180,000 claimed Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) alone, 35,000 claimed IIDB with Reduced Earnings Allowance and Retirement Allowance and 38,000 claimed Reduced Earnings Allowance and Retirement Allowance only.

In the quarter ending June 2021, there were 2,200 new claims under the IIS and 2,700 assessments were completed. Of the completed assessments 1,400 resulted in payment.

In September 2021 under the Pneumoconiosis (Worker’s Compensation) Act 1979, £3,252,900 was awarded to 220 claimants. Under the 2008 Mesothelioma Scheme, £706,400 was awarded to 30 claimants.

Further breakdowns are available on Stat-Xplore.

6. Other working age benefits

The number of people claiming Income Support and Jobseeker’s Allowance to August 2021

Source: DWP benefits statistics.

Jobseeker’s Allowance

Between February 2012 and March 2020, the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) fell substantially, subject to seasonal variation. Universal Credit has been replacing income-based JSA since April 2013. The JSA scheme is now only open to contributory-based claims called New Style JSA. New Style JSA awards have a maximum duration of 182 days.

During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, JSA volumes began to rise against this trend, but have since returned to pre-pandemic levels. The JSA caseload reached 140,000 at August 2021.

Data on the ethnicity of people claiming JSA has been affected during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. For more information see the background note.

Income Support

At August 2021, the total number of people claiming Income Support (IS) was 220,000, a decrease of 65,000 over the last year. Lone parents represent 52% of the number of people claiming IS, and carers represent 47%. The number of people claiming IS due to incapacity has now fallen to just 140.

Universal Credit has replaced IS and new applications for IS can no longer be made to DWP. For more on eligibility for existing claims please see income support information.

Read the Alternative Claimant Count statistics to get a better view of the number of people claiming unemployment benefits. The experimental Alternative Claimant Count statistics cover the period to May 2021 and therefore cover the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Bereavement Support Payment

Bereavement Support Payment recipients by rate of payment to September 2021

Source: DWP benefits statistics.

At September 2021, there were 55,000 people claiming Bereavement Support Payment (BSP), an increase of 2,100 compared to September 2020. 45,000 (81%) were receiving the standard rate of BSP, while 11,000 (19%) were receiving the higher rate. The higher rate is paid to claimants entitled to Child Benefit. BSP was introduced in April 2017 and replaced Widowed Parents Allowance, Bereavement Allowance and the Bereavement Payment.

7. About these statistics

This is a summary of the latest National Statistics about the benefits administered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Data are released on a quarterly basis in:

• February
• May
• August
• November

This summary is released every February and August.

The DWP Benefits statistics publication was assessed by the Office for Statistical Regulation (OSR) in November 2020. DWP set out an action plan in April 2021 to address OSR requirements. OSR has now officially confirmed that the publication has retained its National Statistics designation. The designation of National Statistics is in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

All of DWP’s statistics are National Statistics except:

• Personal Independence Payments (Official Statistics)
• Universal Credit (experimental statistics)
• Benefit Combinations (experimental statistics)
• Bereavement Support Payment (experimental statistics)
• Housing Benefit Flows (experimental statistics)
• Alternative Claimant Count (experimental statistics)

The statistics in this publication are affected by the introduction of Universal Credit. Universal Credit was introduced in April 2013 in certain pathfinder areas of North West England. Between October 2013 and December 2018, Universal Credit was progressively rolled out and is now available in every jobcentre across the country.

Universal Credit is replacing:

• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Housing Benefit for Working Age claimants
• Income Support
• Working Tax Credit
• Child Tax Credit

Please see Universal Credit statistics for information on the number of people and households on Universal Credit.

Information on the following benefits is published separately:

• Benefit Sanctions statistics
• Child Support Agency cases statistics
• Maternity Allowance statistics

Where to find out more

Find previous releases of this data.

More detailed statistical tables covering all National Statistics benefits can be found using Stat-Xplore. This is an online tool that lets you create and download customised statistical tables, and view the results in interactive charts.

Data tables are provided where data is not available on Stat-Xplore.

Read our policies and statements for background information on DWP National and Official benefit statistics, including some of the processes involved in developing and releasing these statistics.

Known issues, changes and revisions

Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit

Please note that due to a production error we have temporarily withdrawn the figures from April 2021 onwards showing the number of awards for the Pneumoconiosis (Workers’ Compensation) Act 1979 and 2008 Mesothelioma Schemes from Stat-Xplore. The headline figures for April 2021 to September 2021 are available as supplementary date tables and these have been added to the statistics release page. The error which has affected data on Stat-Xplore has now been fixed and the corrected data will be released on Stat-Xplore as soon as possible.

Get Your State Pension

During 2019, a new DWP computer system called “Get Your State Pension” (GYSP) came online to handle new State Pension claims. Initially, the GYSP system handled claims received online through the gov.uk site, where people have been sent invitations to claim in this new way.

We are not yet able to include the full GYSP data in our published statistics for State Pension, and the number of cases on the new system are now too high to allow us to continue to publish State Pension data on Stat-Xplore until further notice.

Statistics released in February 2022, covering the period to August 2021, include an estimate of GYSP cases created using payment data. Estimates will be published via temporary data tables only. These will be published with each release of DWP benefit statistics.

Once we are ready to restore regular State Pension updates to Stat-Xplore, we will announce further plans for their inclusion.

Hackney Borough Council: Housing Benefit data

After recovering from a cyber-attack in October 2020, Hackney Borough Council have now restored their supply of Housing Benefit claimant data to DWP. HB statistics for this Local Authority from August 2021 have been estimated using this new feed, with some additional data management. Please see our Background information note for further guidance about this issue.

Further information about all recent changes and revisions can be found in our Background information note.

8. Contact information and feedback

For more information about this release, contact: alan.gibson@dwp.gov.uk.

DWP would like to hear your views on our statistical publications. If you use any of our statistics publications, we would be interested in hearing what you use them for and how well they meet your requirements. Email benefits.statistics@dwp.gov.uk with your feedback.

You can also join the Welfare and Benefit Statistics community on StatsUserNet. DWP announces items of interest to users in this forum, as well as replying to users’ questions.

Lead statistician: Alan Gibson.

ISBN: 978-1-78659-303-0