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DWP · Benefit expenditure and caseload tables: outturn and forecast (Spring Forecast 2026)

Benefit expenditure on pensioners

Year ending March 2025 Final

£164.9bnmillion

Benefit expenditure on pensioners was £164.9bn in the year ending March 2025, up 6.3% (£9.7bn) from £155.2bn in the year ending March 2024.

▲ 6.3% · +£9.7bn against Year ending March 2024 (previous period)

  1. DWP count
  2. Year ending March 2025
  3. published 26 March 2026
  4. Benefit expenditure, £ billion, nominal terms
  5. row “Pensioners”
  6. column “2024/25”
  7. cell value 164.94256897950328

Year ending March 2025 is the highest figure in the published series: £164.9bn. Rule: highest of the 47 periods published here (Year ending March 1979 to Year ending March 2025).

Year ending March 1979 to Year ending March 2025

Benefit expenditure on pensioners: Year ending March 1979 to Year ending March 2025ConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeLabourLabourLabourLabourCoalitionConservativeConservativeConservativeLabour050k100k150k19801990200020102020Year ending March 1979: £9.3bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1980: £10.8bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1981: £12.9bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1982: £15.3bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1983: £17.1bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1984: £18.6bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1985: £19.9bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1986: £21.8bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1987: £23.5bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1988: £24.9bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1989: £26.1bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1990: £28.4bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1991: £31.7bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1992: £35.5bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1993: £38.8bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1994: £41.7bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1995: £42.8bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1996: £44.5bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1997: £46.9bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1998: £48.7bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1999: £50.8bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2000: £53.9bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2001: £57.1bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2002: £61.2bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2003: £63.3bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2004: £66.4bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2005: £71.1bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2006: £75.4bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2007: £77.9bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2008: £83.2bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2009: £90.4bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2010: £96.6bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2011: £100.3bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2012: £104.2bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2013: £109.9bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2014: £110.7bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2015: £114.1bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2016: £116.2bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2017: £117.7bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2018: £119.4bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2019: £121.6bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2020: £123.8bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2021: £125.8bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2022: £128.9bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2023: £137.1bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2024: £155.2bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2025: £164.9bn £ million · published 26 March 2026
Published valueProvisional or revisedLatestShaded bands: governments (see labels)Hover or use arrow keys to read a value

What this measures

DWP benefit spending on people over State Pension age in the financial year, in cash terms, dominated by the State Pension.

What this doesn’t measure

Private or occupational pensions, or NHS and social care costs.

Important caveat

These are DWP's own expenditure and caseload tables for Great Britain, by financial year. Expenditure is in cash terms unless the metric says real terms, in which case DWP has restated it at 2026/27 prices with the GDP deflator. Caseloads are averages over the year, not the number at any date, and a person can appear in more than one benefit's caseload. Benefits devolved to Scotland leave these tables from the year of transfer, so recent years cover a smaller population than earlier ones for the affected benefits. Forecast years in the same workbook are not shown here.

Revision history

No period of this series has been revised since it was first ingested here. Revisions are recorded automatically when a later release publishes a different figure for the same period.

Source

Publisher
DWP
Publication
Benefit expenditure and caseload tables: outturn and forecast (Spring Forecast 2026)
Release
Benefit expenditure and caseload tables: Spring Forecast 2026, published 26 March 2026
Source file
dwp_outturn.xlsx
File SHA-256
11a591e4a2144ed6a686be6a9ded4e5d5b3b8d4887bd57c1ff0632bd251009de
Retrieved
3 September 2026
Sheet
Benefit summary table
Table
Benefit expenditure, £ billion, nominal terms
Row
Pensioners
Column
2024/25
Cell value
164.94256897950328 (× 1,000 = £164.9bn million)
Geography
K03000001
Unit
£ million
API
/api/metrics/benefit_expenditure_pensioners · /series · /vintages

Related metrics

Government periods

Change during each government, from the level inherited to the last complete period before it left office. Describes the period; does not attribute cause.

Conservative 2019–2024£121.6bnYear ending March 2019£155.2bnYear ending March 2024↑ 27.6%
Conservative 2017–2019£117.7bnYear ending March 2017£121.6bnYear ending March 2019↑ 3.3%
Conservative 2015–2017£114.1bnYear ending March 2015£117.7bnYear ending March 2017↑ 3.2%
Coalition 2010–2015£96.6bnYear ending March 2010£114.1bnYear ending March 2015↑ 18.1%
Labour 2005–2010£71.1bnYear ending March 2005£96.6bnYear ending March 2010↑ 35.8%
Labour 2001–2005£57.1bnYear ending March 2001£71.1bnYear ending March 2005↑ 24.6%
Labour 1997–2001£46.9bnYear ending March 1997£57.1bnYear ending March 2001↑ 21.6%
Conservative 1992–1997£35.5bnYear ending March 1992£46.9bnYear ending March 1997↑ 32.1%
Conservative 1987–1992£23.5bnYear ending March 1987£35.5bnYear ending March 1992↑ 51.3%
Conservative 1983–1987£17.1bnYear ending March 1983£23.5bnYear ending March 1987↑ 37.0%
Conservative 1979–1983£9.3bnYear ending March 1979£17.1bnYear ending March 1983↑ 83.5%

Full comparison with chart

Release
Benefit expenditure and caseload tables: Spring Forecast 2026 · publication page
Last updated
26 March 2026
Next release expected
Not yet announced (estimated from the usual cadence)