DWP · XLSX · twice yearly · UK
Benefit expenditure and caseload tables: outturn and forecast (Spring Forecast 2026)
Expenditure is DWP-administered benefit spending in Great Britain for financial years ending 31 March, in £ million (the summary sheet in £ billion), with a real-terms restatement at 2026/27 prices using the GDP deflator. Caseloads are average numbers in payment over the year, in thousands. Benefits devolved to Scotland leave the DWP figures from the year of transfer, which the sheets note. Forecast years carry the OBR's projections and are not read here.
- Official page
- https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2026
- Authority
- First-party official statistics · OGL-UK-3.0
- Latest release
- Benefit expenditure and caseload tables: Spring Forecast 2026, published 26 March 2026
- Next expected
- With the next OBR forecast (autumn 2026) (estimated)
- Extractor
- ingest/ukdata/extractors/dwp_outturn.py
Metrics read from this publication
| Metric | Sheet · table | Row label | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total benefit expenditure | Benefit summary table · £ billion, nominal terms | Total | £ million |
| Total benefit expenditure, real terms | Benefit summary table · real terms | Total | £ million |
| Benefit expenditure on pensioners | Benefit summary table · £ billion, nominal terms | Pensioners | £ million |
| Benefit expenditure on working-age people | Benefit summary table · £ billion, nominal terms | Working age | £ million |
| Universal Credit and equivalents, expenditure | Universal Credit and equivalent · nominal terms | Total UC and equivalents | £ million |
| Universal Credit caseload | Universal Credit and equivalent · caseload | Universal Credit | households |
| Disability benefits expenditure | Disability benefits · nominal terms | Total | £ million |
| Disability benefits caseload | Disability benefits · caseload | Total | people |
| State Pension expenditure | State Pension · nominal terms | Total | £ million |
| State Pension caseload | State Pension · caseload | Total State Pension Caseload | people |
| Pension Credit expenditure | Pension Credit · nominal terms | Total Pension Credit | £ million |
| Carer's Allowance expenditure | Carers Allowance · nominal terms | Total | £ million |
| Carer's Allowance caseload | Carers Allowance · caseload | Total | people |
| Housing support expenditure | Housing benefits · nominal terms | Total | £ million |
| Housing support caseload | Housing benefits · caseloads | Total | households |
| Incapacity benefits expenditure | Incapacity benefits · nominal terms | Total incapacity-related benefits* | £ million |
| Incapacity benefits caseload | Incapacity benefits · caseload | Total incapacity-related benefits* | people |
Releases ingested
| Published | Release | Observations | File |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26 March 2026 | Benefit expenditure and caseload tables: Spring Forecast 2026 | 1,045 | dwp_outturn.xlsx sha256 11a591e4a2144ed6… |
API: benefit_expenditure_total · benefit_expenditure_total_real · benefit_expenditure_pensioners · benefit_expenditure_working_age · universal_credit_expenditure · universal_credit_caseload