Background information note: DWP benefits statistical summary
Updated 12 November 2024
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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) benefits statistics brings together key Accredited Official Statistics and Official Statistics on DWP administered benefits. We release the statistics quarterly in February, May, August and November.
To provide a more complete picture of DWP responsibility, statistics on Housing Benefit (administered by local authorities) and Universal Credit are also included.
We publish Accredited Official Statistics and Official Statistics for the following benefits via Stat-Xplore:
- Attendance Allowance (AA)
- Benefit Combinations
- Bereavement Benefit (BB)
- Bereavement Support Payment (BSP)
- Carer’s Allowance (CA)
- Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
- Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- Housing Benefit (HB)
- HB flows
- Incapacity Benefit (IB)
- Income Support (IS)
- Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB)
- Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
- Pension Credit (PC)
- Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
- Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA)
- State Pension (SP)
- Universal Credit (UC)
- Widow’s Benefit (WB)
DWP extended the data available on Stat-Xplore for the May 2019 release to include Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) and Incapacity Benefit and Severe Disablement Allowance (IBSDA). Housing Benefit Flows statistics were moved to Stat-Xplore in November 2020. At February 2021 Stat-Xplore was expanded further to include Bereavement Support Payment (BSP) statistics.
IIDB datasets were first made available on Stat-Xplore in June 2021. IIDB data was expanded in August 2021 to include:
- Reassessments dataset (mirroring breakdowns available in other datasets like claimant characteristics, type of claim, degree of disablement for reassessments)
- Awards and payments for Pneumoconiosis (Worker’s Compensation) Act 1979 and 2008 Mesothelioma scheme datasets
- Decision time for IIDB Assessments dataset, showing the number of days between the claim being received and the assessment being completed.
Stat-Xplore is now the main dissemination tool for DWP benefit statistics. Older DWP datasets have been left on NOMIS but are no longer refreshed with new data.
We also publish Official statistics on a quarterly basis via data tables as part of this release:
The main statistical release document is published every 6 months in February and August each year.
We publish Accredited Official Statistics and Official Statistics on the following benefit breakdowns every 6 months in May and November via data tables within the statistics collection:
- State Pension 5% sample (currently suspended)
1. Scottish devolution
The Scotland Act 2016 gave Scottish Parliament powers over a number of social security benefits effectively transferring policy ownership from DWP to the Scottish Government.
In September 2018, Carer’s Allowance became the first of these benefits to have policy ownership transferred from DWP to Scottish Ministers. On 1 April 2020, executive competence transferred to the Scottish Government for all remaining disability and industrial injuries benefits due to be devolved.
While Social Security Scotland is building its delivery capacity, DWP has continued to administer the following benefits: Carer’s Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payments, Attendance Allowance, Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit and Severe Disablement Allowance on behalf of Scottish Ministers for an interim period under agency agreements.
Social Security Scotland publish summary statistics for Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, Severe Disablement Allowance, and Carer’s Allowance, consistent with DWP figures.
Recipients of Carer’s Allowance who live in Scotland have been eligible for Carer’s Allowance Supplement (CAS), which will raise their Carer’s Allowance to broadly the equivalent of the current rate of Jobseeker’s Allowance for 25 and over. CAS payments are paid twice a year to people who are in receipt of Carer’s Allowance on eligibility dates set by the Scottish Government (April and October). Social Security Scotland have published statistics on recipients of CAS. DWP will continue to publish Carer’s Allowance statistics that cover the whole of Great Britain.
Impacts of Scottish Devolution on Disability Living Allowance Statistics
Child Disability Payment is a new disability benefit administered by the Scottish Government. It replaces Disability Living Allowance for children living in Scotland. From July 2021, new applications were taken for Child Disability Payment for children under 16 living in several pilot areas. On 22 November 2021, Child Disability Payment launched nationwide to all new applicants. Starting from 11 October 2021, ongoing individual awards of Disability Living Allowance for children are being transferred onto Child Disability Payment.
The Adult Disability Payment was introduced in pilot areas from March 2022 and nationally in Scotland from August 2022. It will replace PIP and DLA for working age people.
Disability Living Allowance figures presented up to November 2021 were largely unaffected by these changes, but presentational changes were needed to DLA data on Stat-Xplore to maintain coherence and help user understanding.
We have made presentational changes to DLA statistics
We are in a transitional period, where DWP still administers DLA and PIP to people in Scotland who are waiting to move onto the new benefits. However, it does so on behalf of the Scottish Government under an agreement and policy ownership has been transferred.
As these new benefits are being administered away from DWP, it is no longer meaningful to present DWP DLA and PIP statistics as though they describe a full count for Great Britain, since people in Scotland are now claiming help and support for disability related living costs in a different way.
Our DWP benefits statistics summaries will now focus on DLA and PIP claims where policy ownership has been retained by DWP. Figures, charts and narratives will primarily reflect England, Wales and any unknown or abroad claims. The residual count of DLA claims in Scotland will be provided for information only, where relevant.
To maintain coherence and comparability across different time periods, we are applying this change retrospectively. Where we make comparisons over time, each data point in the series now represents a caseload that excludes Scotland and only describes current DWP policy ownership.
To reflect these changes, on Stat-Xplore we recently added a new split to DLA geography fields to provide breakdowns based on policy ownership. Users of these statistics should make data selections based on these policy ownership lines.
Retrieving “DWP Policy Ownership” will return claims administered by DWP in England, Wales and Abroad. Retrieving “Policy Devolved to Scotland” will provide users with the residual claims in Scotland.
Please note: If you retrieve all data within the DLA dataset on Stat-Xplore, this will return DLA claims administered by DWP, rather than a full Great Britain level total. It will not include information about the new benefits administered in Scotland.
Statistics showing the number of applications and awards to the new Child Disability Payment have been released by Scottish Government. Similar statistics for Adult Disability Payment have also been released.
In future, there are plans to replace AA with Pension Age Disability Payment and CA with Carer’s Assistance in Scotland. When the impacts of devolution become apparent within the benefit caseload data we publish, the changes to policy responsibility will be reflected within the statistics. Please note: we are ensuring that a consistent approach is maintained with each benefit, to only implement the changes to the presentation when a material impact is shown in the data.
We would very much welcome your feedback on the changes set out above. Please email benefits.statistics@dwp.gov.uk
2. HB caseload and flows data on Stat-Xplore: revisions made to our statistics
Please note that as of August 2022, the following fields on Stat-Xplore have been revised across all datapoints from April 2018.
Passported Benefit Status
A policy change introduced in April 2018 meant Universal Credit (UC) recipients in specified types of temporary or supported accommodation would need to claim support for housing costs through Housing Benefit (HB) rather than the Housing Element of UC. This change led to a growing number of HB claimants showing in our published data with an incorrect passporting status.
People who claim UC and HB together in this way should be presented in our statistics as “Passported: In receipt of Universal Credit.” However, up until August 2022 they were shown as “Non-Passported: Standard Claim.”
We have applied a fix to this field and have re-categorised data where HB claimants also received UC. This change has been applied retrospectively to all datapoints from April 2018.
HB claims by Passporting status: February 2022, summary of changes
| Passporting status | Previously presented figures | Corrected figures following revision | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| In receipt of Income Support | 154,000 | 154,000 | - |
| In receipt of Pension Credit (GC) | 660,000 | 660,000 | - |
| In receipt of JSA (IB) | 42,000 | 42,000 | - |
| In receipt of ESA (IR) | 823,000 | 823,000 | - |
| In receipt of Universal Credit | - | 125,000 | 125,000 |
| Standard case (including Savings Credit only) | 957,000 | 833,000 | -124,000 |
| Unknown or missing passported benefit | 3,000 | 2,000 | -1,000 |
| Total | 2,639,000 | 2,639,000 | - |
Employment Status
The employment status had previously used the passporting status of claims to show the following three categories:
- In employment (and not on Passported Benefit)
- Not in employment (and not on Passported Benefit)
- Not Applicable (on Passported Benefit)
People on UC are able to work full time, and following the revision of the passporting status, we realised that the two category labels showing “not on passported benefit” were incorrect as the counts also included some UC claimants. We have simplified the employment status field to show three unambiguous categories:
- In employment
- Not in employment
- Unknown or missing employment status
This field can now be used in conjunction with the passporting status indicator to show the employment status of both standard HB claims and UC claimants who also receive HB.
Age and Gender
A minor methodological improvement was introduced in May 2020. This change involved combining Single Housing Benefit Extract (SHBE) data with the Customer Information System database to correct and verify any unexpected values for date of birth or gender. We have now extended this enhancement to datapoints from April 2018. This has reduced the number of cases showing missing or unknown as the outcome.
Client Type
The client type shows whether a HB household or individual is Working Age or Pension Age. Following revisions to dates of birth, some retrospective changes are evident on Stat-Xplore between April 2018 and August 2020. Where a household is made up of a mixed-age couple (where one person is above and the other below the State Pension Age) rules have been applied based on which other income or disability benefits may be in payment. For instance, where a household is in receipt of UC it should be classified as Working Age.
Removal of Spare Room Subsidy: Spare Room Subsidy Indicator, Number of Spare Rooms and Weekly Spare Room Reduction Amount band fields.
As a consequence of the changes to the client type variable, some adjustments to Removal of Spare room subsidy caseloads and amount bands have been necessary. The scale of changes in our published RSRS figures for HB is very small.
3. HB data quality: interruptions in data supplied from Hackney Borough Council, Gloucester City Council and Na h-Eileanan Siar Council
Housing Benefit (HB) is different to other DWP benefits because it is administered by Local Authorities on behalf of DWP. To produce HB data and statistics, DWP collate data returns from each of the Local Authorities in Great Britain (GB) to produce a single data file called the Single Housing Benefit Extract (SHBE). This extract contains administrative data from Local Authority computer systems. We then use two consecutive SHBE extracts to create publishable HB statistics and estimates.
A data interruption occurred at Hackney Borough Council during October 2020, and the authority was unable to supply any HB data to DWP. The interruption lasted until August 2021.
DWP analysts considered the effects of the interruption across the full range of products where HB data is used. We compared different strategies for handling the gaps in our data. The approach we adopted used the last complete data return from Hackney (October 2020) as an approximation each time we published data up until services were restored. We used other trusted data sources to amend or “clean” Hackney’s data to help improve its quality as far as possible, we:
- removed cases who had gone on to receive the Universal Credit Housing element
- removed cases where the claimant had died
- removed some cases where an entitling DWP claim had ended
We tested this approach across a range of different scenarios, and we believe it allowed us to maintain a good approximation of the number of cases still on HB at Hackney for this period. The data cleaning process did not introduce any significant bias to the lower-level data, and ensured we used the best available evidence.
Having said that, no process of forecasting or substituting data can provide the same level of accuracy as using regularly updated data. The key disadvantage of this approach was that it relied on retaining older data, and no new claims to HB in Hackney were available. The timeliness of the data suffered slightly, since the characteristics of the data may have changed over time, for example: as claimants get older.
The impacts on data quality and accuracy are more severe for lower level breakdowns where any Hackney cases are involved in the data, as follows:
- Local Authority, Parliamentary Constituency or other low level geographical breakdowns involving Hackney – a higher level of data quality impacts for age of claimant and average award amounts
- London Regional level data, medium level impacts – statistics represent a good estimation of the overall caseload. Some lower level breakdowns should be treated with caution
- GB level data, low level impacts – statistics will still represent a good estimation of the overall number of HB claims across a full range of breakdowns
- all other geographical breakdowns not involving Hackney – no impacts on data quality
During the interruption period, DWP analysts routinely reviewed Hackney’s HB statistics, and built in a range of additional quality checks to ensure estimates remained fit for publication. However, users should exercise additional caution wherever they produce lower level breakdowns for either London or Hackney over this period.
Hackney Borough Council have now resumed the supply of HB data to DWP. Since August 2021, data have been based on their more recent returns.
Data from September 2022 for Hackney have seen final remediation measures removed, and now data for Hackney follows the standard process for HB.
A similar interruption occurred at Gloucester City Council who were unable to supply DWP with HB data between December 2021 and July 2023. During this time, we derived their HB statistics using the same data cleansing approach as we used for Hackney. Gloucester City Council resumed the supply of data to DWP in July 2023, and statistics from August 2023 are based on their most recent data returns.
A similar interruption occurred at Na h-Eileanan Siar Council (Western Isles) who are unable to supply DWP with HB data until further notice. This has affected HB statistics that include Na h-Eileanan Siar Council from October 2023 onwards. During this time, we are deriving their HB statistics using the same data cleansing approach as we used for Hackney Borough Council and Gloucester City Council previously.
4. State Pension statistics
During 2019, a new DWP computer system called “Get Your State Pension” (GYSP) came online to handle some new State Pension claims. Initially, the GYSP system handled claims received online through the gov.uk site, where people have been sent invitations to claim in this new way.
State Pension statistics were suspended from Stat-Xplore in August 2021, because GYSP was handling a sizeable proportion of claims which we were unable to include in our published State Pension statistics.
After developing new statistical datasets and completing rigorous quality assurance on the new GYSP data, we were able to restore regular State Pension updates to our Stat-Xplore datasets as part of our November 2023 release of DWP Benefits Statistics. Data was restored on Stat-Xplore back to November 2020 at this time.
Between August 2021 and November 2023 to maintain accurate headline estimates for State Pension, we used data from our payment system to create a very reliable approximation of the full State Pension caseload. Our derived figures were then quality assured against Management Information and caseload estimates provided by the GYSP project team.
More information about restoration of full State Pension caseload statistics to Stat-Xplore, as well as a detailed comparison of our estimates against the actual caseload, can be found in the State Pension summary published as part of the November 2023 DWP Benefits Statistics release.
A biannual release of supplementary tables derived from a 5% sample of the legacy computer system was also suspended. These tables were last published in May 2021 covering data to September 2020. Tables 4 and 5 from this release (proportions of beneficiaries receiving a full amount) are now available via Stat-Xplore data. Tables 1, 2 and 3 (deferment increments for claimants of pre-2016 State Pension) will remain suspended until further developments of the GYSP datasets enable these additional variables to be analysed. Deferment increments data for claimants of new State Pension is also now available via Stat-Xplore.
Both men’s and women’s State Pension age reached 66 at October 2020. The Pensions Bill 2013 to 2014 contains provision for a State Pension age of 67 to be reached by 2028. Read further information on the State Pension age timetable.
As noted in the DWP Benefits Statistics landing page update on 30 October 2024, the Accredited Official Statistics for State Pension will be reinstated in the release of statistics on 28 November 2024, with data available on Stat-Xplore.
In February 2024, the Accredited Official Statistics for State Pension were suspended due to issues with processing data from the new Get Your State Pension (GYSP) system.
Following extensive redesign and testing of data processing procedures from the GYSP system, we are now able to extract accurate and reliable data from the system. This allows the reinstatement of State Pension data to the DWP Benefits statistics publication. State Pension data will also be reinstated to the DWP Benefit Combinations statistics on 28 November 2024.
5. Impacts of coronavirus on benefit statistics
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic led to a major increase in operational activity across DWP. As a result, temporary procedural easements were put in place. Such changes were necessary to continue to process claims while keeping customers and staff safe, while ensuring those eligible received their benefits. Examples of these easements are temporarily relaxing requirements for benefits claimants to provide copies of documents by post, and a temporary cessation of all face-to-face contact with benefit claimants. Most of these easements have not had a direct impact on benefit statistics data. However, there may be backlogs in the processing of claims for some benefits, and JSA, AA, DLA, ESA, IIDB and CA data were specifically affected as follows.
JSA
From May 2020, the JSA source data contain greatly increased numbers of cases with ethnicity recorded as ‘Prefer not to say’ or ‘Unknown’. This is attributed to temporary changes in the claim process as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, as the priority was to get customers paid on time. With the resumption of telephone interviews in August 2020, reporting began to improve. However, caution should be applied when viewing proportions or percentages for ethnicity in the Stat-Xplore data without first excluding the ‘Prefer not to say’ or ‘Unknown’ cases beforehand.
AA
Between March 2020 and October 2020 easements in the processing of new and existing Attendance Allowance claims within DWP led to a large increase in the number of cases being recorded with an unknown Main Disabling Condition. These easements were intended to enable claims to be processed and customers paid on time.
DLA
Between March 2020 and July 2020, the assessment process to confirm eligibility to PIP was paused. This included the reassessment process for DLA claimants aged 16 transferring to PIP. This caused a temporary increase in DLA claimants aged 16 to 17.
ESA
The Work Capability Assessment process for ESA has been affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. For more information see the most recent ESA Work Capability Assessment statistics.
IIDB
During the pandemic, the assessment process of IIDB claims was paused. Therefore the figures for the February 2021 and May 2021 release are reduced.
CA
During the pandemic, DWP disregarded some COVID-19 related breaks in care and partially relaxed its definition of care. Carer’s Allowance easements lasted until September 2021. They resulted in a higher proportion of claimants receiving a payment.
6. IIDB data on Stat-Xplore
Data for abroad cases on the assessments in payments dataset prior to December 2022 were withdrawn on 15 August 2023. It has come to light that a proportion of abroad cases were managed on a separate system which was not linked to our statistics. All abroad cases were migrated to the same payment system that handles the rest of the caseload in November 2022, enabling us to include complete breakdowns for abroad cases on Stat-Xplore from December 2022 onward, but due to data only being held in live systems, complete figures for the period from March 2017 to September 2022 cannot be recovered. Estimates for abroad cases from March 2010 to September 2020 can be found in the notes beneath our previously published Excel tables.
7. Maternity Allowance statistics for May 2022
Maternity Allowance statistics for May 2022, due to be released on 15 November 2022, were not published as planned.
Following a data production error, figures were not available, and we were unable to produce any Maternity Allowance estimates for this quarter. We regret that the loss of Maternity Allowance data for May 2022 now represents a permanent gap in the statistical series.
Maternity Allowance statistics for August 2022 were released as normal on 14 February 2023.
8. Revisions to medical condition ICD high level grouping codes for ESA and IB/SDA
In March 2018, the Department for Work and Pensions, as part of their quality assurance process, noticed discrepancies regarding the published figures for some disability benefit claimants by medical condition. The releases affected were ESA and IB/SDA, ESA-WCA and ESA sanctions; PIP and DLA were not impacted. Whilst the issues were investigated, all the information relating to medical conditions was removed from our online sources and a note was attached asking users to exercise caution whilst using these statistics.
The issues stemmed from the mapping of medical conditions on the DWP administrative system from IRG (Incapacity Reference Guide) to ICD (International Classification of Diseases), the form in which the statistics are published. In some cases, the IRG framework had been changed without the relevant mapping having been updated to reflect this, whilst in others the mapping was found not to have been suitable from the outset. As such, certain medical conditions were being assigned to IRG codes which were then being mapped to ICD codes that did not correspond to the original conditions. The new mapping includes two new codes: External causes of morbidity and mortality and Codes for special purposes.
Having engaged with and received support from DWP doctors, an updated mapping document was created and applied to the data, meaning that the statistics could be republished. Whilst many medical grouping caseload figures were unaffected, others have seen their numbers altered by the new system of mapping used with approximately 18% of the DWP medical codes now mapping to a different statistical medical condition group. At the higher-level at which the statistics are published, with the revised mapping applied to the data as of November 2017, 93% of the high level medical codes caseloads remain the same. We have no plans to reproduce a backseries as this would be extremely resource intensive to do, so we believe it’s better to use that resource to maintain production of existing statistics and develop new statistics that are being requested. We have provided explanatory notes for the historical data. Users are invited to use the updated statistics published in August 2018.
Effect of revised mapping on high level ICD codes for ESA as at November 2017
For a full breakdown of the effect of the new mapping on ESA, please examine the breakdown in this table.
| ICD Chapter | Description | Difference (thousands) | Percentage Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Certain Infectious and Parasitic Diseases | -22.3 | -65% |
| 2 | Neoplasms | -0.5 | -1% |
| 3 | Diseases of the Blood and Blood forming organs and certain diseases involving the immune mechanism | 0.2 | 4% |
| 4 | Endocrine, Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases | - | - |
| 5 | Mental and Behavioural Disorders | 28.6 | 2% |
| 6 | Diseases of the Nervous System | 8.7 | 6% |
| 7 | Diseases of the Eye and Adnexa | - | - |
| 8 | Diseases of the Ear and Mastoid Process | - | - |
| 9 | Diseases of the Circulatory System | 0.3 | - |
| 10 | Diseases of the Respiratory System | 0.1 | - |
| 11 | Diseases of the Digestive System | 0.7 | 2% |
| 12 | Diseases of the Skin and Subcutaneous System | -1.6 | -13% |
| 13 | Diseases of the Musculoskeletal system and Connective Tissue | -3.5 | -1% |
| 14 | Diseases of the Genito-urinary System | -3.3 | -22% |
| 15 | Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Puerperium | 0.2 | 8% |
| 16 | Certain Conditions Originating in the Perinatal Period | - | - |
| 17 | Congenital Malformations, Deformations and Chromosomal Abnormalities | - | - |
| 18 | Symptoms, Signs and Abnormal Clinical and Laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified | -10.8 | -5% |
| 19 | Injury, Poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes | -36.8 | -39% |
| 20 | External causes of morbidity and mortality | 5.1 | - |
| 21 | Factors influencing Health Status and Contact with Health Services | 34.8 | 122% |
| 22 | Codes for special purposes | - | - |
| 99 | Unknown or claimants without diagnosis on the system | - | - |
9. Revisions to geographical outputs
During 2018, improvements to the geography information in our statistics were brought into the majority of our legacy benefits. The changes reflect 2011 Census Output Areas and allow us to adhere to the latest geographical boundaries as defined by Office for National Statistics.
Part of these improvements included the use of a more reliable data source, the Customer Information System (CIS), to obtain the geography information of our customers.
As a result:
- residency based geographical breakdowns for Housing Benefit (HB) were refreshed in August 2018 and published on Stat-Xplore with data from April 2018
- new geographies for most of our Legacy Benefits were refreshed in November 2018 and published on both Stat-Xplore with data from May 2018
Please read the DWP statistical geographies note.
A Ward level hierarchy was introduced at August 2019 to enable the creation of Ward Level data.
In August 2021, as part of a periodic update, we refreshed the reference file used to assign geographies to our statistics in Stat-Xplore. For most geographical outputs, this change has had no impact. However, re-organisations have taken place at Local Authority and Ward level since the last release. Currently, our geography outputs are based on the ONS National Statistics Postcode Lookup of May 2021.
For users of HB statistics, please note that following the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union, a new UK-managed international statistical geography - International Territorial Levels (ITL) – has been introduced from 1 January 2021, replacing the former Eurostat Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) classification. HB statistics on Stat-Xplore now provide the ITL hierarchy to reflect this. To help users manage this change, we plan to retain the NUTS hierarchy on Stat-Xplore until the next refresh of the geographic reference file.
10. DLA and AA statistics on Stat-Xplore
Disability Living Allowance (DLA) payments
A DLA award is made up of two components; care and mobility.
Care component is for people who have needed help with personal care for at least 3 months and are likely to go on needing that help for at least a further 6 months. It is paid at 3 rates as shown in the following table.
| Rate | Description |
|---|---|
| Highest | For people who need help or supervision throughout both day and night, or who are terminally ill. |
| Middle | For people who need frequent help or constant supervision during the day, supervision at night or someone to help while on dialysis. |
| Lowest | For people who need help for some of the day or with preparing cooked meals. |
Mobility component for people who have had walking difficulties for at least 3 months and are likely to continue to have those difficulties for at least a further 6 months. It paid at 2 rates as shown in the following table.
| Rate | Description |
|---|---|
| Higher | For people who are physically unable, or virtually unable, to walk |
| Lower | For people who can walk, but need guidance or supervision from another person when walking out of doors on unfamiliar routes |
Nil rates exist for either component. Total payment amounts can be made up of either or both components.
Attendance Allowance (AA) payments
Attendance Allowance does not contain a mobility component and is paid at 2 different rates as shown in the following table.
| Rate | Description |
|---|---|
| Higher | For people who need help or supervision throughout both day and night, or who are terminally ill |
| Lower | For people who need frequent help or constant supervision during the day, or supervision at night |
Changes of circumstances and payment adjustments
Entitlement to AA or DLA can be affected by changes in individual circumstances – for example hospital admission, etc. DLA care and mobility components can be adjusted independently of one another. Normally, where adjustments take place, award components move to a Nil rate. For a very small proportion of DLA mobility awards, the awards have been adjusted from the higher rate to lower rate.
The following table shows the proportions of awards have been adjusted for a specific reason:
The proportion of entitled cases with payment adjustments by reason for adjustment
| Stay in Care Home | Stay in Hospital | Imprisonment | Other | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AA | 4.9% | 1.3% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 6.3% |
| DLA Care | 2.5% | 0.7% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 3.4% |
| DLA Mobility | 0.7% | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0.9% |
Source: DWP Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study, August 2019
On Stat-Xplore DLA and AA datasets are broken down into 2 distinct types:
Cases with Entitlement: Totals for all entitled cases show both the number of people in receipt of an allowance and those with entitlement where the payment has been adjusted or suspended.
Cases in payment: This is a subset of the Cases with Entitlement dataset. Figures show the number of people in receipt of an allowance. The dataset excludes those who have had their total award adjusted to zero, for example if they are staying in a care home or hospital.
In both the entitlement and in payment datasets there are breakdowns showing award types for care and mobility award components in the case of DLA and for the overall award type in the case of Attendance Allowance.
In the DLA Cases in Payment dataset, both of the award type fields have been amended to take into account payment adjustments. However, cases with both a nil care and nil mobility rate after adjustments will be excluded from this dataset.
In the AA Cases in Payment dataset, all cases with a payment adjustment are excluded because they are no longer deemed to be in payment.
Minor update to AA and DLA Main Disabling Condition
At August 2021, we introduced two new medical descriptors to the field Main Disabling Condition field on AA and DLA datasets:
- Infectious diseases: Viral disease - Coronavirus COVID-19
- Infectious diseases: Viral disease - precise diagnosis not specified
Please note: that at November 2022, following a review of medical codes, some classifications were relabelled to maintain accuracy and coherence:
- “Blindness” has been relabelled to read “Visual Disorders and Diseases”
- “Deafness” has been relabelled to read “Hearing Disorders”
- “Chest Disease” has been relabelled to read “Respiratory Disorders and Diseases”
11. JSA figures at ONS
The preferred source of numbers for Jobseeker’s Allowance is the Office for National Statistics (ONS) claimant count figure; these are more up to date and contain clerical cases. However, the reason we use the DWP JSA figures is that they are consistent with the other benefits used to produce DWP National Statistics, and permit a wider set of breakdowns. The ONS figures are available from NOMIS.
12. Comparisons of benefit statistics with DWP benefit expenditure and caseload tables
These benefit statistics are not intended to estimate overall DWP benefit expenditure. The DWP benefit expenditure and caseload tables provide details on past expenditure and forecasts. These are based on DWP accounting data and for a variety of reasons are not directly comparable to data on Stat-Xplore. For instance, the benefit expenditure and caseload tables present average benefit caseload across the financial year rather than on a quarterly or monthly basis. Caseload and average award data on Stat-Xplore should not be used to estimate benefit expenditure, as they do not capture the full information on amounts of benefit paid or duration of benefit claims.
For more information, see the DWP benefit expenditure and caseload tables guidance and methodology documents.
13. National Statistics Code of Practice
National Statistics are accredited official statistics.
These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in November 2020. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.
Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR).
OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.
You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards.
Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.
14. Rounding
The figures quoted within this background information note and the release it accompanies generally adhere to standard DWP rounding policy as shown in this table.
| Range of values | Round to the nearest: |
|---|---|
| 0 to 1,000 | 10 |
| 1,001 to 10,000 | 100 |
| 10,001 to 100,000 | 1,000 |
| 100,001 to 1,000,000 | 10,000 |
| 1,000,001 to 10,000,000 | 100,000 |
| 10,000,001 to 100,000,000 | 1,000,000 |
All changes, percentage changes and totals are calculated prior to rounding.
While we aim to adhere to the rounding policy there are some rare occasions where this policy prevents realistic comparison of two figures where there are small differences. In such cases additional significant figures may be used.
15. Northern Ireland statistics
The statistics in this Summary cover Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) only. See comparable benefit statistics for Northern Ireland and for geographical breakdowns.
Currently, the Northern Ireland statistics use extracts from the benefit systems very similar to those used to create the 100% sample numbers for Great Britain. See the directly equivalent GB numbers on Stat-Xplore.
Housing Benefit (HB) is a social security benefit paid by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. It helps people on a low income pay their rent and rates. In Northern Ireland, rates are paid instead of Council Tax. Limited HB numbers are available in the housing statistics report.
Employment Programs are different in Northern Ireland. Hence, statistics are not directly comparable. See the numbers on the various schemes.
16. Other Accredited Official Statistics and Official Statistics issued by the DWP
Personal Independence Payment and DLA reassessments
From 8 April 2013, the government introduced a new benefit called Personal Independence Payment to replace Disability Living Allowance for eligible working age people aged 16 to 64. See further information and statistics relating to PIP.
Universal Credit
A new benefit that has started to replace six existing benefits and tax credits with a single monthly payment and will eventually replace:
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- Income Support
- Working Tax Credit
- Child Tax Credit
- Housing Benefit
Universal Credit was introduced in April 2013 in certain pathfinder areas of North West England. It is now available to all types of claimants across Great Britain.
See the latest UC statistics.
Sanctions statistics
Find statistics on the number of sanctions imposed on people who receive JSA, ESA (WRAG), IS or Universal Credit.
Fraud and error statistics
Accredited Official Statistics are published presenting annual estimates of fraud and error in claims for Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Pension Credit and Housing Benefit, along with an annual estimate of the level of fraud and error in the benefit system as a whole. One-off benefit reviews have been carried out from time to time to estimate fraud and error in claims for other benefits.
Take-up of income-related benefits
Publications contain information on the take-up of the main income-related benefits in Great Britain: Income Support, Pension Credit, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit, Employment and Support Allowance (income related) and Jobseeker’s Allowance (income based). Take-up is measured in two ways. Expenditure take-up compares the total amount of benefit received in the course of a year with the total amount that would have been received if everyone took up their entitlement for the full period of entitlement. Caseload take-up compares the number of benefit claimants – averaged over the year – with the number who would be receiving if everyone took up their entitlement for the full period of entitlement.
Read about other Accredited Official Statistics and Official Statistics produced by the Department for Work and Pensions.
17. Other benefit Accredited Official Statistics and Official Statistics issued by HMRC
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) are responsible for administering some benefits. These include Child Benefit, personal tax credits, and Guardian’s Allowance.
Child Benefit
Find statistics relating to geographical analysis of the numbers of families and children claiming Child Benefit and statistics relating to small area data.
Personal tax credits
Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Working Tax Credit (WTC) replaced Working Families’ Tax Credit, Disabled Person’s Tax Credit and Children’s Tax Credit in April 2003. Tax credits are based on household circumstances and can be claimed jointly by members of a couple, or by singles. Entitlement is based on factors such as age, income, hours worked, number and age of children, childcare costs and disabilities.
Find statistics relating to personal tax credits, including Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit.