In this section: Public services
The cost of running the benefits system
Last updated . Figures refresh every night. How each figure is worked out.
£9.7bn was spent on running the benefits system in the UK in 2024-25, £140 per resident. That is +3.0% on a year earlier after inflation (+7.1% in cash). In 2025-26 prices it has gone from £11.2bn in 2021-22 to £10.0bn. DWP alone spent £9.6bn running the system in 2025-26, beside £309.8bn of benefits and pensions paid: about £3.09 for every £100 paid out.
Figure as of 9 July 2026. Source: Department for Work and Pensions, HM Treasury, HM Treasury, HM Treasury, Social Security Scotland, Department for Communities.
Key figures
- £9.7bnSpent in 2024-25, cash +7.1% on a year earlier
- +3.0%Real-terms change, 2024-25 on a year earlier £10.0bn in 2025-26 prices
- £140Per resident, 2024-25
- £3.09DWP running costs per £100 of benefits paid, 2025-26 £9.6bn beside £309.8bn
- 84,110DWP staff, full-time equivalent, 31 March 2026
Sources: Department for Work and Pensions, HM Treasury, Social Security Scotland, Department for Communities, Cabinet Office.
What is the short version?
- Running costs have fallen as a share of what is paid out: from £6.39 per £100 of benefits in 2006-07 to £3.09 in 2025-26, mostly because benefits and pensions grew faster.
- DWP is one of the largest employers in government: 84,110 full-time equivalent staff at the end of 2025-26.
- Two budgets, never added: benefits are demand-led (AME); running the system comes from a fixed departmental limit (DEL).
- Scotland and Northern Ireland run their own: Social Security Scotland for devolved benefits, and Northern Ireland’s Department for Communities for all of social security there.
Over the longest run published: cash, real terms and per head
Real terms use HM Treasury’s GDP deflator, 2025-26 prices. Breaks in the series: 2011-12: HM Treasury’s budgeting changes (“Clear Line of Sight”) changed what counts in DEL and narrowed the administration budget. 2021-22: From 2021-22 the figures are DWP’s own core tables, restated for depreciation moving out of DEL and for the 2025 skills transfer (left out here); earlier years are PESA’s resource DEL excluding depreciation, each year from the newest edition that has it. 2018-19: Social Security Scotland began in September 2018 and has taken over benefits from DWP in stages since; DWP’s figures for Scotland fall as it does. 2025-26: Machinery of government: apprenticeships, adult skills and Skills England moved from the Department for Education to DWP (announced 16 September 2025). DWP’s published totals now include them for every year; they are taken out here.
The numbers behind this chart
| Year | Real terms (2025-26 prices) | Cash |
|---|---|---|
2021-22Details for 2021-22 | £11,246.9m | £9,273.7m |
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2022-23Details for 2022-23 | £9,886.9m | £8,725.3m |
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2023-24Details for 2023-24 | £9,716.0m | £9,025.6m |
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2024-25Details for 2024-25 | £10,003.1m | £9,669.9m |
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Figure as of 9 July 2026. Source: Department for Work and Pensions, HM Treasury, HM Treasury, HM Treasury, Social Security Scotland, Department for Communities.
Per resident divides by ONS mid-year population estimates.
The numbers behind this chart
| Year | Per resident, 2025-26 prices | Per resident, cash |
|---|---|---|
2021-22Details for 2021-22 | £168 | £138 |
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2022-23Details for 2022-23 | £146 | £129 |
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2023-24Details for 2023-24 | £142 | £132 |
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2024-25Details for 2024-25 | £144 | £140 |
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Figure as of 9 July 2026. Source: Department for Work and Pensions, HM Treasury, HM Treasury, HM Treasury, Social Security Scotland, Department for Communities.
Source: Department for Work and Pensions, DWP annual report and accounts 2025-26: core tables (public spending and administration budget), published 9 July 2026; HM Treasury, PESA 2021: chapter 1 tables (departmental budgets), published 20 July 2021; HM Treasury, PESA 2016: chapter 1 tables (departmental budgets), published 21 July 2016; HM Treasury, PESA 2011: chapter 1 tables (departmental budgets), published 13 July 2011; Social Security Scotland, Social Security Scotland: annual report and accounts; Department for Communities, Department for Communities (Northern Ireland): annual report and accounts.
Running costs beside the benefits they pay
DWP has two budgets. Benefits and the state pension are annually managed expenditure, set by demand. Running the system (staff, jobcentres, service centres, IT, contracted assessments and employment programmes) comes out of its departmental expenditure limit, set in spending reviews. They are shown here side by side and never added.
Two separate budgets shown on one scale, never added together. Running costs leave out depreciation and the skills programmes moved to DWP in 2025. From 2021-22 the figures are DWP’s own core tables; earlier years are HM Treasury’s PESA, each year from the newest edition that has it.
The numbers behind this chart
| Year | Benefits paid (resource AME) | Running costs (resource DEL, like for like) |
|---|---|---|
2006-07Details for 2006-07 | £119.1bn | £7.6bn |
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2007-08Details for 2007-08 | £127.3bn | £7.9bn |
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2008-09Details for 2008-09 | £135.3bn | £7.8bn |
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2009-10Details for 2009-10 | £146.5bn | £8.5bn |
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2010-11Details for 2010-11 | £151.3bn | £8.7bn |
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2011-12Details for 2011-12 | £159.2bn | £7.4bn |
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2012-13Details for 2012-13 | £165.5bn | £7.2bn |
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2013-14Details for 2013-14 | £163.1bn | £7.4bn |
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2014-15Details for 2014-15 | £167.6bn | £7.0bn |
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2015-16Details for 2015-16 | £173.4bn | £6.3bn |
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2016-17Details for 2016-17 | £172.9bn | £6.1bn |
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2017-18Details for 2017-18 | £177.3bn | £6.0bn |
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2018-19Details for 2018-19 | £180.9bn | £5.8bn |
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2019-20Details for 2019-20 | £190.8bn | £5.7bn |
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2020-21Details for 2020-21 | £212.4bn | £6.5bn |
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2021-22Details for 2021-22 | £216.6bn | £8.7bn |
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2022-23Details for 2022-23 | £231.3bn | £8.2bn |
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2023-24Details for 2023-24 | £266.8bn | £8.4bn |
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2024-25Details for 2024-25 | £288.0bn | £9.0bn |
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2025-26Details for 2025-26 | £309.8bn | £9.6bn |
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Figure as of 9 July 2026. Source: Department for Work and Pensions, HM Treasury, HM Treasury, HM Treasury, HM Treasury, HM Treasury.
Real terms use HM Treasury’s GDP deflator, 2025-26 prices. Breaks in the series: 2011-12: HM Treasury’s budgeting changes (“Clear Line of Sight”) changed what counts in DEL and narrowed the administration budget. 2021-22: From 2021-22 the figures are DWP’s own core tables, restated for depreciation moving out of DEL and for the 2025 skills transfer (left out here); earlier years are PESA’s resource DEL excluding depreciation, each year from the newest edition that has it. 2025-26: Machinery of government: apprenticeships, adult skills and Skills England moved from the Department for Education to DWP (announced 16 September 2025). DWP’s published totals now include them for every year; they are taken out here.
The numbers behind this chart
| Year | Real terms (2025-26 prices) | Cash |
|---|---|---|
2006-07Details for 2006-07 | £12,458.4m | £7,611.0m |
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2007-08Details for 2007-08 | £12,628.8m | £7,866.0m |
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2008-09Details for 2008-09 | £12,004.7m | £7,756.0m |
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2009-10Details for 2009-10 | £13,060.1m | £8,547.0m |
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2010-11Details for 2010-11 | £13,047.4m | £8,684.0m |
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2011-12Details for 2011-12 | £10,912.4m | £7,418.0m |
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2012-13Details for 2012-13 | £10,474.8m | £7,244.0m |
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2013-14Details for 2013-14 | £10,522.0m | £7,428.0m |
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2014-15Details for 2014-15 | £9,738.4m | £6,972.0m |
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2015-16Details for 2015-16 | £8,722.4m | £6,288.0m |
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2016-17Details for 2016-17 | £8,266.8m | £6,079.0m |
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2017-18Details for 2017-18 | £8,057.3m | £6,000.0m |
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2018-19Details for 2018-19 | £7,562.6m | £5,760.0m |
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2019-20Details for 2019-20 | £7,285.1m | £5,695.0m |
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2020-21Details for 2020-21 | £7,872.7m | £6,476.0m |
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2021-22Details for 2021-22 | £10,581.5m | £8,725.0m |
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2022-23Details for 2022-23 | £9,235.0m | £8,150.0m |
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2023-24Details for 2023-24 | £9,059.7m | £8,416.0m |
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2024-25Details for 2024-25 | £9,333.9m | £9,023.0m |
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2025-26Details for 2025-26 | £9,564.0m | £9,564.0m |
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Figure as of 9 July 2026. Source: Department for Work and Pensions, HM Treasury, HM Treasury, HM Treasury.
| Year | Running costs | Benefits paid | Per £100 of benefits | Running the department | Administration budget |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2025-26Details for 2025-26 | £9.6bn | £309.8bn | £3.09 | £6.7bn | £1.1bn |
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2024-25Details for 2024-25 | £9.0bn | £288.0bn | £3.13 | £6.0bn | £1.0bn |
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2023-24Details for 2023-24 | £8.4bn | £266.8bn | £3.15 | £5.7bn | £976m |
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2022-23Details for 2022-23 | £8.2bn | £231.3bn | £3.52 | £5.5bn | £859m |
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2021-22Details for 2021-22 | £8.7bn | £216.6bn | £4.03 | £5.8bn | £906m |
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2020-21Details for 2020-21 | £6.5bn | £212.4bn | £3.05 | — | £911m |
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What each measure counts
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Running costs
What the body spends on running the benefits it administers, cash. DWP: resource DEL excluding depreciation and the skills lines; Social Security Scotland: administration costs in its accounts, including payments to DWP for benefits it still delivers under agency agreements; Northern Ireland: the Department for Communities’ “operational delivery” line (net of what DWP and others pay it for work done for them).
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Benefits paid
Benefit spending by the body, cash. DWP: resource annually managed expenditure (almost all of it benefits, including the state pension). Social Security Scotland: benefit expenditure in its accounts.
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Running costs as a share of benefits paid
The body’s running costs divided by the benefits it paid in the same year. For DWP: resource DEL (excluding the skills lines moved in 2025) over resource AME. For Social Security Scotland: administration costs over benefit expenditure in its accounts. The two cover different benefits and definitions, so they are not a like-for-like comparison.
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Administration budget (HM Treasury definition)
The part of DWP’s resource DEL that HM Treasury classes as administration: head-office and back-office costs. Frontline staff in jobcentres and service centres count as programme spending, not administration. The definition was narrowed in 2011-12, so earlier years are left out.
Source: Department for Work and Pensions, DWP annual report and accounts 2025-26: core tables (public spending and administration budget), published 9 July 2026; HM Treasury, PESA 2026: chapter 1 tables (departmental budgets), published 16 July 2026; HM Treasury, PESA 2025: chapter 1 tables (departmental budgets), published 17 July 2025; HM Treasury, PESA 2021: chapter 1 tables (departmental budgets), published 20 July 2021; HM Treasury, PESA 2016: chapter 1 tables (departmental budgets), published 21 July 2016; HM Treasury, PESA 2011: chapter 1 tables (departmental budgets), published 13 July 2011.
What the running costs are spent on
| Year | Staff costs | Goods and services | Running costs in all | Staff share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2025-26Details for 2025-26 | £4.9bn | £3.3bn | £9.6bn | 51.6% |
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2024-25Details for 2024-25 | £4.5bn | £3.0bn | £9.0bn | 49.8% |
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2023-24Details for 2023-24 | £4.1bn | £2.7bn | £8.4bn | 49.1% |
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2022-23Details for 2022-23 | £3.8bn | £2.5bn | £8.2bn | 46.5% |
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2021-22Details for 2021-22 | £3.9bn | £2.6bn | £8.7bn | 44.6% |
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Staff costs and goods and services are the two biggest parts; the rest is grants (to councils for running Housing Benefit, and the Household Support Fund) net of income. These are DWP’s “of which” lines for its whole resource DEL, which includes small staff costs of the skills bodies transferred in 2025.
| Business group | £ billion |
|---|---|
| Jobs and Careers Service (jobcentres and work coaches) | £2.3bn |
| Contract Management and Partner Delivery (contracted services, including health assessments and employment programmes) | £2.2bn |
| Digital and Transformation Group | £1.9bn |
| DWP Service and Fraud (benefit processing, service centres, counter-fraud) | £1.6bn |
| Corporate Transformation | £1.4bn |
| Policy Group (excluding the Money and Pensions Service) | £0.4bn |
| Health and Safety Executive | £0.2bn |
| People and Capability | £0.2bn |
| Money and Pensions Service | £0.2bn |
| Finance Group (excluding contract management) | £0.2bn |
| Other corporate (communications and private office) | £0.0bn |
| All departmental spending | £10.6bn |
DWP’s own chart of departmental (DEL) spending by business group; the groups are its internal directorates and are rounded to £0.1 billion, so they do not add exactly. From DWP Annual Report and Accounts 2025-26 (HC 262), Chief Finance Officer overview: departmental spend in 2025-26, checked 24 September 2026. This total includes capital spending and the Health and Safety Executive.
Where the money goes, level by level
- UK total (this level)
- Nation not published
- Department or service body
- Local body not published
- Spending category
- Line or transaction not published
United Kingdom
DWP’s running costs for Great Britain, Social Security Scotland’s administration costs and Northern Ireland’s social security operational delivery, added together only for years all three are published. Benefit payments are not included: they are shown beside it.
£9.7bn in 2024-25 (cash); £10.0bn in 2025-26 prices; £140 per resident; +7.1% on a year earlier in cash, +3.0% in real terms.
| Department or service body | Cash, 2024-25 | Real terms (2025-26 prices) | Per resident | Real change on a year earlier | Source | Below this |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Department for Work and Pensions (Great Britain)Details for Department for Work and Pensions (Great Britain) | £9.0bn | £9.3bn | £134 | +3.0% | Department for Work and Pensions | Broken down below |
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Department for Communities, Northern Ireland: social security operational deliveryDetails for Department for Communities, Northern Ireland: social security operational delivery | £349m | £361m | £181 | −1.2% | Department for Communities | Local body not published: The department’s accounts give this line split only into administration and programme costs and income (in the table below); not by office or benefit. |
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Social Security ScotlandDetails for Social Security Scotland | £298m | £309m | £53.78 | +5.9% | Social Security Scotland | Broken down below |
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Department for Work and Pensions (Great Britain)
Resource DEL: day-to-day departmental spending, excluding depreciation and the skills programmes moved from the Department for Education in 2025. It includes employment programmes, grants to councils for running Housing Benefit and the Household Support Fund, and DWP’s arm’s-length bodies. DWP runs benefits for England, Scotland and Wales together; per head divides by the population of Great Britain. The split by section covers 2021-22 to 2025-26 (the latest core tables); earlier years are the total only, from PESA.
£9.6bn in 2025-26 (cash); £9.6bn in 2025-26 prices; £142 per resident; +6.0% on a year earlier in cash, +2.5% in real terms.
| Spending category | Cash, 2025-26 | Real terms (2025-26 prices) | Per resident | Real change on a year earlier | Source | Below this |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Running the departmentDetails for Running the department | £6.7bn | £6.7bn | £99.37 | +8.5% | Department for Work and Pensions | Line or transaction not published: DWP does not publish its running costs by jobcentre, service centre or benefit. Its accounts split them by type (staff costs, goods and services: shown below) and its annual report by business group for the latest year; the contracted health assessments are not a separate line in the tables. |
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Household Support Fund and other DEL grantsDetails for Household Support Fund and other DEL grants | £875m | £875m | £12.99 | −13.4% | Department for Work and Pensions | Line or transaction not published: Not broken down further in DWP’s core tables. |
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Employment programmesDetails for Employment programmes | £854m | £854m | £12.68 | +7.9% | Department for Work and Pensions | Line or transaction not published: Not broken down further in DWP’s core tables. |
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Arm’s-length bodies and other linesDetails for Arm’s-length bodies and other lines | £474m | £474m | £7.04 | −0.4% | Department for Work and Pensions | Line or transaction not published: Not broken down further in DWP’s core tables. |
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National Insurance Fund: DWP costsDetails for National Insurance Fund: DWP costs | £462m | £462m | £6.86 | −31.0% | Department for Work and Pensions | Line or transaction not published: Not broken down further in DWP’s core tables. |
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Support for local authoritiesDetails for Support for local authorities | £206m | £206m | £3.06 | −6.1% | Department for Work and Pensions | Line or transaction not published: Not broken down further in DWP’s core tables. |
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Social Security Scotland
Administration costs in the agency’s accounts, including what it pays DWP to deliver benefits on its behalf. The Scottish Government’s own social security programme costs (building the systems) are in the Scottish Government’s accounts, not here. The agency began in September 2018; its accounts are read from 2019-20.
£298m in 2024-25 (cash); £309m in 2025-26 prices; £53.78 per resident; +10.2% on a year earlier in cash, +5.9% in real terms.
| Spending category | Cash, 2024-25 | Real terms (2025-26 prices) | Per resident | Real change on a year earlier | Source | Below this |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Staff costsDetails for Staff costs | £218m | £226m | £39.30 | +6.6% | Social Security Scotland | Line or transaction not published: Not broken down further in the accounts. |
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Other administration costs (IT, accommodation, shared services, depreciation)Details for Other administration costs (IT, accommodation, shared services, depreciation) | £63m | £66m | £11.41 | +26.7% | Social Security Scotland | Line or transaction not published: Not broken down further in the accounts. |
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Paid to DWP for benefits it still delivers in Scotland (agency agreements)Details for Paid to DWP for benefits it still delivers in Scotland (agency agreements) | £17m | £18m | £3.06 | −37.4% | Social Security Scotland | Line or transaction not published: Not broken down further in the accounts. |
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Cash is as published. Real terms are in 2025-26 prices, using HM Treasury’s GDP deflator. Per resident divides by ONS mid-year population for the area the body serves. Changes compare the same body in consecutive years.
Search the department's payments over £25,000
Every payment of £25,000 or more the department published for the latest year, as published. See every department's spending over £25,000 for what each covers.
Department for Work and Pensions published 116,658 payments worth £3.03bn to 399 suppliers and recipients from July 2025 to June 2026 (12 of 12 months published). Payments to suppliers and grants. Benefit payments to claimants are not in this data.
Gaps and problems in the data, as published (2)
- 89% of rows are under £25,000: the department lists individual lines of larger payments, or publishes some smaller ones. They are kept as published.
- 2,299 credits and refunds (negative amounts, £47,317,984 in all) are included, so totals are net.
Searching needs JavaScript. Every payment is in one JSON file.
Source: Department for Work and Pensions, spending over £25,000 on GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0. 12 files read, newest updated 2026-07-31; every payment kept is in one JSON file.
Every file read (12)
- DWP spending over £25,000, June 2026 (2026-06): 12,087 rows. Read 2026-09-24.
- DWP spending over £25,000, May 2026 (2026-05): 10,100 rows. Read 2026-09-24.
- DWP spending over £25,000, April 2026 (2026-04): 6,728 rows. Read 2026-09-24.
- DWP spending over £25,000, March 2026 (2026-03): 11,673 rows. Read 2026-09-24.
- DWP spending over £25,000, February 2026 (2026-02): 9,304 rows. Read 2026-09-24.
- DWP spending over £25,000, January 2026 (2026-01): 8,487 rows. Read 2026-09-24.
- DWP spending over £25,000, December 2025 (2025-12): 10,279 rows. Read 2026-09-24.
- DWP spending over £25,000,November 2025 (2025-11): 8,804 rows. Read 2026-09-24.
- DWP spending over £25,000, October 2025 (2025-10): 9,906 rows. Read 2026-09-24.
- DWP spending over £25,000, September 2025 (2025-09): 10,144 rows. Read 2026-09-24.
- DWP spending over £25,000, August 2025 (2025-08): 8,447 rows. Read 2026-09-24.
- DWP spending over £25,000, July 2025 (2025-07): 10,699 rows. Read 2026-09-24.
Staff
Each year is the count at 31 March, shown against the financial year that ends then. Civil Service Statistics editions with spreadsheets start in 2019; earlier editions were ONS releases, now archived.
The numbers behind this chart
| Year | Headcount | Full-time equivalent |
|---|---|---|
2018-19Details for 2018-19 | 82,810 | 73,340 |
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2019-20Details for 2019-20 | 78,300 | 68,790 |
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2020-21Details for 2020-21 | 90,950 | 81,420 |
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2021-22Details for 2021-22 | 91,450 | 82,100 |
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2022-23Details for 2022-23 | 84,945 | 75,935 |
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2023-24Details for 2023-24 | 90,780 | 81,680 |
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2024-25Details for 2024-25 | 93,805 | 84,415 |
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2025-26Details for 2025-26 | 93,655 | 84,110 |
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Figure as of 29 July 2026. Source: Cabinet Office.
| Nation | Headcount | Share |
|---|---|---|
EnglandDetails for England | 78,535 | 83.9% |
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WalesDetails for Wales | 6,585 | 7.0% |
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ScotlandDetails for Scotland | 8,455 | 9.0% |
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DWP staff in Northern Ireland are too few to publish and are suppressed; staff overseas or with no recorded location are left out. DWP runs benefits for Great Britain as one, so staff in one nation also serve claimants in others.
Social Security Scotland had a headcount of 4,249 at the end of 2024-25, from its accounts.
Source: Cabinet Office, Civil Service Statistics 2019 to 2026: statistical tables, published 29 July 2026; Social Security Scotland, Social Security Scotland: annual report and accounts.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
Social Security Scotland runs the benefits devolved to Scotland (Adult Disability Payment, Child Disability Payment, the Scottish Child Payment and others) and pays DWP to keep delivering some of them until they move across. Early years are small because the agency was being built up. In Northern Ireland, social security is devolved and run by the Department for Communities, which also does work for DWP and is paid for it; the net figure takes that income off.
| Year | Running costs | Benefits paid | Per £100 of benefits | Paid to DWP | Headcount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2024-25Details for 2024-25 | £298m | £5.9bn | £5.03 | £17m | 4,249 |
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2023-24Details for 2023-24 | £271m | £5.2bn | £5.22 | £26m | 3,955 |
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2022-23Details for 2022-23 | £267m | £4.0bn | £6.60 | £59m | 4,027 |
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2021-22Details for 2021-22 | £195m | £3.5bn | £5.59 | £77m | 2,445 |
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2020-21Details for 2020-21 | £130m | £3.4bn | £3.88 | — | — |
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2019-20Details for 2019-20 | £36m | £347m | £10.38 | — | — |
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| Year | Net cost | Administration | Programme costs, gross | Income for work done for others |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2025-26Details for 2025-26 | £363m | £29m | £519m | −£185m |
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2024-25Details for 2024-25 | £349m | £17m | £481m | −£149m |
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2023-24Details for 2023-24 | £339m | £35m | £407m | −£102m |
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2022-23Details for 2022-23 | £309m | £25m | £366m | −£83m |
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2021-22Details for 2021-22 | £354m | — | — | — |
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The two are not comparable with DWP or with each other: they run different benefits and their accounts draw the line between running costs and other spending differently. Northern Ireland’s benefits are paid partly from its National Insurance Fund, so no single benefits total is set beside its running costs here.
Source: Social Security Scotland, Social Security Scotland: annual report and accounts; Department for Communities, Department for Communities (Northern Ireland): annual report and accounts.
Offices, and what is not published
- DWP opened 194 temporary jobcentres during the pandemic; by March 2026 all but one had closed, and it is being converted into a permanent jobcentre. In 2025-26 DWP also left 4 established jobcentres and 4 service and support centres. DWP Annual Report and Accounts 2025-26, estates section, checked 24 September 2026.
- In Northern Ireland, Universal Credit was run from three service centres, two satellite service centres, 35 Jobs & Benefits offices and an operational control centre in Belfast (2021-22). Department for Communities: Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22, checked 24 September 2026.
Figures asked for that are not published, and why
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Cost per claim for each benefit
DWP does not publish a regular unit cost per claim or per benefit. Its accounts give running costs by type and by section, not by benefit.
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The cost of the contracted health assessments for PIP and the Work Capability Assessment (the Functional Assessment Service)
Not a separate line in DWP’s core tables or accounts notes; it sits inside “running the department”. National Audit Office reports give contract values for particular years.
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Running costs by jobcentre or service centre
Not published. DWP does not publish a count of its jobcentres in its accounts either; what it says about its estate is shown above.
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England, Wales and Scotland separately for DWP
DWP runs benefits for Great Britain as one and does not split its running costs by nation. Its staff are split by nation (Civil Service Statistics), shown here.
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HMRC’s cost of running tax credits and Child Benefit
Part of HMRC’s costs, on the cost-of-collection page.
Benefit money lost to fraud and error, and appeals, are on benefit fraud, error and appeals. What benefits are forecast to cost is on the welfare spending forecast.
What these figures do and don't show
- Running costs and benefits are kept apart. The running cost is never added to the benefits it pays; the share of benefits is worked out from the two, year by year.
- “Running costs” is DWP’s resource DEL, which is wider than administration. It includes employment programmes, grants to councils for running Housing Benefit, the Household Support Fund and the Health and Safety Executive. The “running the department” line and HM Treasury’s administration budget are narrower measures, shown alongside.
- Like for like across years. The skills programmes moved to DWP from the Department for Education in 2025 are taken out of every year, and depreciation is left out throughout. Budgeting rules changed in 2011-12, and the source changes from PESA to DWP’s core tables in 2021-22.
- Cash and real terms. Tables and the side-by-side chart are cash; the long-run chart also shows real terms in the dataset’s price base (HM Treasury GDP deflator).
- The UK total covers only years all three bodies publish. DWP (Great Britain), Social Security Scotland and Northern Ireland’s Department for Communities are added up only where all three have figures; DWP alone goes back to 2006-07.
- No figure for your area. Running costs are not published by jobcentre, service centre or local authority, so this page has no local breakdown.
- Nothing here measures how well the system runs. A lower share of benefits can mean efficiency, more pensioners (cheap to administer) or less support; see the fraud and error page for one measure of accuracy.
Figures from data/services/welfare-admin.json, generated 29 September 2026.
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