Gareth Morgan

The DWP have published some analysis, for the first time, which looks at Pension Credit take-up in a much more detailed manner. For the first time it’s possible to see local authority and Westminster constituency take-up rates, both by numbers of households and by the annual amounts of benefit claimed and unclaimed.

The differences between areas are surprisingly large and deserve some detailed investigation. There is small difference between nations in the take-up by households, although the overall rates of take-up are depressingly low. Wales has a 64% take-up of the benefit, England 63% while Scotland wins at 67%. The rates of expenditure are even closer, with eligible probable benefits spend of 73% for Wales, the same for England while Scotland inches ahead at 74%.

When we look at the regional and local level however, things become less similar.

Looking at the English regions, the South West manages only 55% take-up rate while the North East manages 71%.  How does one region get 1/3 more of eligible claimants taking up the benefit than another? Why is London doing so well compared to the rest of the south-east?

• North East – 71%
• North West – 67%
• Yorkshire and The Humber – 64%
• East Midlands – 61%
• West Midlands – 65%
• East of England – 58%
• London – 69%
• South East – 56%
• South West – 55%

One possibility, at a superficial glance, is the availability of social welfare advice across those regions.

The publication of these detailed tables will enable us to look more deeply at local areas which might help to explain the differences in take-up rates. The tables are available on the gov.uk website as part of the Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2024 which were published on 30 October 2025.

This year’s figures only look at the pension-age means-tested benefits, Pension Credit and Housing Benefit

I have had a little more detailed look at the figures which relate to Wales, both by local authorities and by Westminster constituencies.

Wales

The national figures for Wales are not hugely different from the other home nations with a 64% rate of eligible households in receipt of Pension Credit, leaving an estimated 132,000 households potentially eligible but not receiving the support. The estimated underspend is £107 million a year.

Benefits recipients are likely to spend their money immediately, rather than saving it, and to spend it much more locally. That’s £107 million a year which as well as heating homes and putting food on the table could be going into local shops and businesses, benefiting the local economies across Wales.

But it wouldn’t be equally spread!

There are 22 local authorities in Wales and, as with the English regions, the differences between them, shown in table 1, are considerable.

The take-up rate in Neath Port Talbot is 73% while that in Ceredigion is only 51%.  Half of the eligible households in Ceredigion don’t receive the benefit compared to only a quarter in Neath Port Talbot.

Table 1

In money terms, shown in Table 2, Neath Port Talbot sees 73% of the possible benefit in payment being received compared to the 61% level in Ceredigion.  A possible extra £3,651,000 a year that could go into the pockets in Neath Port Talbot and £4,132,000 in Ceredigion

Table 2

English local authorities see even bigger variations, with the best performing authority, Tower Hamlets, having a take-up rate of 83% while Cotswold sits at the bottom of the table with 44%.

Tower Hamlets again becomes top of the expenditure table with 89% while Cotswold just manages to climb ahead of the bottom placed Wychavon with 48%

Constituencies

Comparing the situation in Wales by the 40, pre-2024, Westminster constituencies, the differences are just a little more pronounced.

Table 3 shows the take-up rate is highest in Swansea East, which ties with Aberavon, at 75% while Montgomeryshire can’t reach half of the eligible households, with a rate of 49%. Again, why don’t over half of the eligible households in Montgomeryshire receive the benefit compared to only a quarter in Neath Port Talbot and Swansea East?

Table 3

The same constituencies are found in the same order when we look at the amount of benefit in payment made and estimated, in Table 4. Still tied are Swansea East and Aberavon on 82% and still languishing at the bottom is Montgomeryshire with 57%.

Table 4

In the English constituencies, the differences are again larger. The best performing constituency, is Bethnal Green and Bow with a take-up rate of 84% while Mole Valley sits at the bottom of the table with 44%.

Bethnal Green and Bow also reaches top of the expenditure table with 89% while Eddisbury has an appalling rate of 40% of possible war.

Why?

These tables provide a worrying and puzzling picture of take-up across the UK. Despite, to be fair, the government’s attempts to improve take-up of Pension Credit, the results show little effect. Even the, later, Winter Fuel Payment impact on claims is unlikely to move the pointer much. The regional and local differences in take-up are much larger than expected. There are a number of possible factors, of course: rural/urban, deprivation, demographic and many more.

Looking at the area I know best, Wales, I keep returning to the fact that the best performing areas are those which have had a long record of active welfare rights work while those at the bottom have been more poorly resourced.