A clearer picture of
benefit support.

Universal Credit, Adult Disability Payment, Employment and Support Allowance, Pension Credit, Housing Benefit and Scottish Child Payment only. It is not total welfare expenditure. Spending uses the common financial year 2024–25 and is not restricted to ages 16–65. Monthly spending is annual spending divided by 12, not an observed month.

These figures compare benefit receipt with a stated population or household group; they do not measure take-up among eligible people. UC uses directly tabulated recipients aged 16–65 divided by residents aged 16–65, following the NRS working-age definition at mid-2025. This excludes older members of mixed-age UC couples and unknown ages, and is not an exact eligibility population. ADP and ESA use residents aged 16+; Pension Credit uses residents aged 66+; Housing Benefit uses estimated households; Scottish Child Payment uses children aged 0–15. Denominators are mid-2025. Recipient periods vary by benefit, but match across councils within each benefit. People can receive multiple benefits: never add recipient counts or per-100 figures across benefits.

Methods differ by benefit. Some amounts convert published weekly mean awards to monthly equivalents using 52/12; others divide spending by caseload. These are not all mean monthly awards. UC spending and household payment measures cover all ages. Its indicative monthly amount uses all-age people on UC, not the 16–65 recipient count shown in the comparison. Open a council’s benefit details to read the method, period and source notes. UC household payment data for May 2026 is provisional.

DWP spending is geographically allocated from national outturn; Social Security Scotland spending is issued payments. Housing Benefit counts follow residence while spending follows the administering authority. Published counts are disclosure-controlled. Map boundaries are ONS December 2024 generalised boundaries, joined by official council codes.