living standards · the national record
Universal Credit across Britain
How many people are on Universal Credit, how that has changed since the pandemic, and where claims are most and least common, from the official DWP and ONS figures. About 8.3 million people were on Universal Credit in Great Britain at December 2025, DWP's own latest published headline, equivalent to roughly 20 per cent of the working age population.
How to read this
Universal Credit is the single working age benefit that has been replacing six older benefits and tax credits since 2013. Figures here cover Great Britain: Universal Credit in Northern Ireland is run separately and is not included in these DWP statistics. The national count is people on Universal Credit, of any work status. The local authority league table further down uses a different, narrower ONS measure, the Claimant Count, because DWP no longer publishes a plain download of people on Universal Credit by local authority; this is explained where it appears.
Computed from DWP Universal Credit official statistics (bulletin headline figures, Feb/Aug DWP benefit statistics releases), DWP Universal Credit People Statistics (May 2025 snapshot), ONS mid-2024 population estimates, and ONS Claimant Count by local authority (May 2026, published 18 June 2026).
The caseload
8.3 million people on Universal Credit
DWP's latest published figure is 8.3 million people on Universal Credit in Great Britain at December 2025, drawn from the Universal Credit official statistics. Against an estimated 42,329,668 people aged 16 to 64 in Great Britain in mid-2024, that is roughly 20 per cent of the working age population, though not every Universal Credit claimant is of working age and not everyone of working age is eligible to claim, so this is an approximate scale comparison rather than an exact rate. In the most recent full national breakdown DWP has published, May 2025, 28.4 per cent of people on Universal Credit were recorded as in some form of paid work.
Since 2019
From 2.3 million to 8.3 million
The number of people on Universal Credit was still under 2.5 million in mid-2019, before the bulk of the legacy benefit caseload had moved across. It roughly doubled in the space of a year at the start of the pandemic, eased back through 2021 and 2022 as the economy reopened, then climbed steadily again from 2023 onwards as more tax credit and legacy benefit claimants were moved onto Universal Credit and the caseload grew. These points are DWP's own published rounded headline figures from each six monthly benefit statistics release, not a continuous monthly series.
People on Universal Credit, Great Britain, in millions. Each bar is DWP’s own published headline figure from a six monthly benefit statistics release, not a continuous monthly series. Source: DWP.
As at May 2025
Who is on Universal Credit, by work status
Universal Credit is means tested and paid whether or not a claimant is in work. In the most recent full breakdown DWP has published by conditionality regime, May 2025, about 28.4 per cent of the 7,797,157 people on Universal Credit were in some paid work, and about 71.6 per cent were not, including people required to search for work and people with no work requirement, most commonly because of caring responsibilities or a health condition.
3,476,992 people
1,622,691 people
1,294,898 people
919,736 people
381,886 people
100,828 people
Conditionality regime, 7,797,157 people on Universal Credit. Source: DWP Universal Credit People Statistics.
A different, local measure
Where the claimant count is highest and lowest
DWP no longer publishes a simple downloadable table of people on Universal Credit by local authority; that breakdown now sits behind a Stat-Xplore account. The closest published local measure is the ONS Claimant Count, which is mostly people on Universal Credit in the 'searching for work' group plus a small residual of Jobseeker's Allowance claimants, shown here as a share of the local population aged 16 to 64. It is a narrower group than the 8.3 million total above, and is not directly comparable to it. In Great Britain as a whole the claimant count is 4 per cent of the working age population; the highest local rate, in Birmingham, is more than 2.5 times the national rate.
Highest claimant rate
77,925 claimants
14,285 claimants
11,825 claimants
20,710 claimants
17,995 claimants
15,545 claimants
13,955 claimants
15,045 claimants
Lowest claimant rate
175 claimants
655 claimants
215 claimants
1,000 claimants
1,050 claimants
1,085 claimants
715 claimants
2,535 claimants
ONS Claimant Count as a share of the population aged 16 to 64, by local authority, May 2026. Great Britain rate: 4%. City of London and the Isles of Scilly excluded as population outliers. Source: ONS/NOMIS, not DWP Universal Credit statistics; see the caveats below.
Questions this raises
For Universal Credit
- 1.
The Universal Credit caseload has more than tripled since 2019, partly through deliberate policy: most legacy benefits and tax credits are being closed and claimants moved across. How much of the growth is that managed migration, and how much is new need?
- 2.
About 28.4 per cent of people on Universal Credit are in paid work. Universal Credit was designed to smooth the transition into and within work; does a caseload this large still function as a transitional benefit or as a permanent top up to low pay for a large share of claimants?
- 3.
Local authority figures on people on Universal Credit are no longer published as an open download, only through a Stat-Xplore account. What does losing an easy local breakdown of the country's biggest working age benefit mean for local scrutiny and accountability?
- 4.
Claimant rates vary more than ninefold between the highest and lowest local authorities. How much of that gap reflects local labour markets, and how much reflects the cost and availability of local jobs relative to housing and other costs?
Sources & method
Data provenance
- Universal Credit statistics (DWP, collection) ↗· Open Government Licence v3.0
- DWP benefit statistics: February 2026 (headline Universal Credit figure) ↗· Open Government Licence v3.0
- DWP benefits statistics collection (six monthly headline figures, 2019-2026) ↗· Open Government Licence v3.0
- Labour market in the regions of the UK: June 2026, Claimant Count by unitary and local authority, CC01 (ONS) ↗· Open Government Licence v3.0
- Population estimates for the UK, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, mid-2024 (ONS) ↗· Open Government Licence v3.0
Caveats & data notes
- Coverage is Great Britain. Universal Credit in Northern Ireland is run by the Department for Communities and is not part of these DWP statistics.
- The national headline and trend points (8.3 million at December 2025, and the earlier points back to 2019) are DWP's own rounded, published figures from its six monthly benefit statistics bulletins, not figures computed here from a raw table; DWP has not published a plain downloadable file of the full monthly national series since local authority and national tables moved onto Stat-Xplore.
- The work status breakdown is DWP's most recent full national breakdown we hold, May 2025, and does not match the same month as the December 2025 headline; the two are shown separately and should not be added or compared directly.
- The local authority league table uses the ONS Claimant Count, not people on Universal Credit. It mostly captures Universal Credit claimants who must actively search for work, plus a small number of Jobseeker's Allowance claimants, so it understates the true number of people on Universal Credit in every area. City of London and the Isles of Scilly are excluded as population outliers, as elsewhere on this site.
- The working age population and the Great Britain 16 to 64 share used for the headline comparison are computed here from ONS mid-2024 single year of age population estimates; they are a scale comparison, not an official 'Universal Credit uptake rate'.
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