What are benefits, and who gets them?
The nutshell
Benefits are payments from the government to help people with the cost of living. A person can get a benefit for reasons like being out of work, being on a low income, being disabled, caring for someone, raising a child, or being retired.
Every fact on this page comes from official benefit rules and non-partisan explainers. Each source tag — like HoC — opens where a fact comes from.
The basics
What a benefit is
A benefit is money the government pays to help people with the cost of living. Some benefits help people who are out of work. Others help people who are in work but on a low income, or who are disabled, caring for someone, raising a child, or retired.HoC
Who runs benefits
In Great Britain, most benefits are run by the Department for Work and Pensions, or DWP. The DWP pays the State Pension and a range of benefits for working-age people, disabled people and carers, supporting around 20 million people.HoC
Who can get them
Benefits come in a few kinds. A means-tested benefit depends on how much money and savings a household has. Universal Credit is the main one — a monthly payment for people on a low income or out of work.GOV Other benefits depend on National Insurance, the money paid in while working. A few, like the State Pension or Child Benefit, depend mostly on age or on having a child.HoC
How much is spent
Benefits are one of the largest things the government pays for. The State Pension is the biggest single benefit, costing about £146 billion, ahead of health and disability benefits at about £77 billion.IfG
- The Department for Work and Pensions runs most benefits and supports around 20 million people (House of Commons Library)
- Some benefits depend on low income and savings, some on National Insurance paid at work, and some just on age or having a child
- The State Pension is the largest single benefit in the whole system (Institute for Government)
- Benefits are not only for people who are out of work — many go to pensioners and to people in low-paid jobs
- The State Pension counts as a benefit too, and it is the biggest part of the welfare bill (Institute for Government)
- Most benefits are not automatic — a claim has to be made, and many depend on an income or health check
The deep end6 min
The three main kinds of benefit
The House of Commons Library groups benefits into three broad kinds. Contributory benefits are earned by paying National Insurance at work, and are paid out of the National Insurance Fund. Means-tested benefits go to households with low incomes and savings, and have grown to make up a large share of working-age support. Non-contributory benefits, such as some disability and carer payments, depend on need or circumstance rather than on income or contributions.HoC
Universal Credit, the main working-age benefit
Universal Credit is the payment most working-age people on a low income now claim. GOV.UK describes it as a monthly payment to help with living costs, for people on a low income, out of work, or unable to work.GOV It brought several older benefits together into one payment, so a single claim covers help that used to come from many.GOV
Where the money goes
Spending on benefits is one of the largest parts of the government's budget. The Institute for Government records the State Pension as the biggest single item, at about £146 billion, with health and disability benefits at about £77 billion.IfG Full Fact, using official forecasts, puts total welfare spending including pensions at about £314 billion in 2024/25, rising to about £378 billion by 2029/30, with pensioner payments the largest single part.FF
How much to spend on benefits, and who should qualify, are questions political parties disagree on. The facts on this page — what a benefit is, who runs benefits, and where the money goes — stay the same whatever position a reader takes.