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

Benefit expenditure on working-age people

Year ending March 2025 Final

£119.8bnmillion

Benefit expenditure on working-age people was £119.8bn in the year ending March 2025, up 10.0% (£10.9bn) from £108.9bn in the year ending March 2024.

▲ 10.0% · +£10.9bn 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 “Working age”
  6. column “2024/25”
  7. cell value 119.79180031556642

Year ending March 2025 is the highest figure in the published series: £119.8bn. 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 working-age people: Year ending March 1979 to Year ending March 2025ConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeLabourLabourLabourLabourCoalitionConservativeConservativeConservativeLabour050k100k19801990200020102020Year ending March 1979: £4.4bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1980: £4.8bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1981: £6.3bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1982: £8.3bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1983: £9.8bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1984: £11.6bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1985: £12.8bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1986: £14bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1987: £15.3bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1988: £15.6bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1989: £14.9bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1990: £15.3bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1991: £17.9bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1992: £22.7bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1993: £27.2bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1994: £30.6bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1995: £31.8bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1996: £33.5bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1997: £34.2bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1998: £33.4bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1999: £33.3bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2000: £32.7bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2001: £31.7bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2002: £32.4bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2003: £33.3bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2004: £34.6bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2005: £35.7bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2006: £36.9bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2007: £38.2bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2008: £40.2bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2009: £42.8bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2010: £49.4bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2011: £51.3bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2012: £53.1bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2013: £55.1bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2014: £51.9bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2015: £52.4bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2016: £53.8bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2017: £54.2bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2018: £56.8bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2019: £60.1bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2020: £66.4bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2021: £85.2bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2022: £86.2bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2023: £93.1bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2024: £108.9bn £ million · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2025: £119.8bn £ 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 of working age in the financial year, in cash terms, including Universal Credit, disability and incapacity benefits and housing support.

What this doesn’t measure

Whether recipients are in work: Universal Credit is paid to many working households.

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
Working age
Column
2024/25
Cell value
119.79180031556642 (× 1,000 = £119.8bn million)
Geography
K03000001
Unit
£ million
API
/api/metrics/benefit_expenditure_working_age · /series · /vintages

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£60.1bnYear ending March 2019£108.9bnYear ending March 2024↑ 81.2%
Conservative 2017–2019£54.2bnYear ending March 2017£60.1bnYear ending March 2019↑ 10.8%
Conservative 2015–2017£52.4bnYear ending March 2015£54.2bnYear ending March 2017↑ 3.4%
Coalition 2010–2015£49.4bnYear ending March 2010£52.4bnYear ending March 2015↑ 6.1%
Labour 2005–2010£35.7bnYear ending March 2005£49.4bnYear ending March 2010↑ 38.4%
Labour 2001–2005£31.7bnYear ending March 2001£35.7bnYear ending March 2005↑ 12.5%
Labour 1997–2001£34.2bnYear ending March 1997£31.7bnYear ending March 2001↓ 7.3%
Conservative 1992–1997£22.7bnYear ending March 1992£34.2bnYear ending March 1997↑ 50.9%
Conservative 1987–1992£15.3bnYear ending March 1987£22.7bnYear ending March 1992↑ 48.0%
Conservative 1983–1987£9.8bnYear ending March 1983£15.3bnYear ending March 1987↑ 55.7%
Conservative 1979–1983£4.4bnYear ending March 1979£9.8bnYear ending March 1983↑ 124.4%

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)