FOI reference: FOI-2025-2887
You asked
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 I respectfully request the following information:
1. Claimant Numbers:
The total number of individuals currently claiming any form of state benefit in the United Kingdom, including but not limited to:
- Universal Credit
- Jobseeker’s Allowance
- Employment and Support Allowance
- Housing Benefit
- Child Benefit
- Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
- Attendance Allowance
Please provide a breakdown by citizenship/immigration status as follows:
- Number of claimants who are British citizens
- Number of claimants who are non British citizens, with further breakdown by nationality if available
- Number of claimants who are asylum seekers or recognised refugees
- Number of claimants who are without legal immigration status (e.g. overstayers, undocumented migrants), if this data is held.
2. Associated Public Expenditure:
For each of the categories listed above, please provide the total amount of benefit expenditure incurred annually (or for the most recent financial year available). If a detailed breakdown is not possible, please provide estimates or aggregated figures.
3. Recent Arrivals:
If possible, please also indicate the:
- Number of benefit claimants who arrived in the UK within the last five years
- Associated benefit expenditure for this group.
We said
Thank you for you query regarding claimants of state benefits in the UK.
We do not hold the information you have requested.
We hold very limited information regarding benefit claimants, such as the subset of Universal Credit claimants with a work search requirement for benefit eligibility, in order to publish the Claimant Count.
However, DWP produce their own extensive statistics regarding numbers of benefit claimants, which they publish as part of their DWP benefits statistical summary and through their online tool Stat-Xplore.
For further information on what is available and support in accessing their statistics, you should contact the DWP benefits statistical team at benefits.statistics@dwp.gov.uk, who should be able to assist you with this query.