Benefits Set To Increase

• Enfield recorded the highest benefits spending per working-age person in 2024/25 (£3,868).

• Enfield was the smallest borough where total benefits spending exceeded £1 billion.

• Other high-ranking areas by per-head spending:

  • Blackpool (£3,678)

  • Hackney (£3,669)

  • Blaenau Gwent (£3,462)

  • Haringey (£3,419)

• Birmingham had the highest total benefits bill but ranked 14th per head.

• The analysis was conducted by Neil O'Brien.

• The study examined:

  • Universal Credit

  • Disability Living Allowance

  • Personal Independence Payments

  • Working-age housing benefits

• The Institute for Fiscal Studies previously ranked Enfield as the seventh worst-funded local authority.

• 37.7% of Enfield residents live in income-deprived households.

• More than 20% of Enfield residents receive out-of-work benefits.

• Britain’s welfare bill is projected to rise from £140 billion to £177 billion by the end of the current Parliament.

• The Department for Work and Pensions has been told it cannot introduce major system changes before next year.

• The government plans to:

  • Deploy over 1,000 Pathways to Work advisers.

  • Invest over £3.5 billion in employment support programmes by the end of the decade.

  • Increase the main rate of Universal Credit above inflation.