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DWP · Benefit expenditure and caseload tables: outturn and forecast (Spring Forecast 2026)

Disability benefits caseload

Year ending March 2025 Final

6,531,000people

Disability benefits caseload was 6,531,000 people at 31 March 2025, up 9.6% (573,000) from 5,958,000 at 31 March 2024.

▲ 9.6% · +573,000 against Year ending March 2024 (previous period)

  1. DWP snapshot
  2. Year ending March 2025
  3. published 26 March 2026
  4. Disability benefits caseload, thousands
  5. row “Total”
  6. column “2024/25”
  7. cell value 6531

Year ending March 2025 is the highest figure in the published series: 6,531,000. Rule: highest of the 52 periods published here (Year ending March 1974 to Year ending March 2025).

The latest year is the largest rise in the published series: up 573,000 from Year ending March 2024 to Year ending March 2025. Rule: largest year-on-year increase across the 51 year-on-year changes the series supports.

Year ending March 1974 to Year ending March 2025

Disability benefits caseload: Year ending March 1974 to Year ending March 2025ConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeLabourLabourLabourLabourCoalitionConservativeConservativeConservativeLabour02m4m6m19801990200020102020Year ending March 1974: 143,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1975: 170,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1976: 193,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1977: 251,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1978: 298,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1979: 339,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1980: 383,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1981: 461,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1982: 527,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1983: 602,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1984: 704,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1985: 821,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1986: 929,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1987: 1,033,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1988: 1,151,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1989: 1,257,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1990: 1,363,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1991: 1,482,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1992: 1,642,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1993: 1,935,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1994: 2,248,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1995: 2,512,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1996: 2,937,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1997: 3,144,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1998: 3,369,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1999: 3,496,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2000: 3,599,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2001: 3,719,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2002: 3,863,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2003: 4,000,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2004: 4,154,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2005: 4,290,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2006: 4,406,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2007: 4,518,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2008: 4,641,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2009: 4,771,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2010: 4,909,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2011: 4,987,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2012: 5,009,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2013: 5,017,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2014: 4,961,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2015: 5,031,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2016: 5,212,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2017: 5,278,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2018: 5,262,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2019: 5,278,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2020: 5,354,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2021: 4,974,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2022: 5,137,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2023: 5,501,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2024: 5,958,000 people · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2025: 6,531,000 people · published 26 March 2026
Published valueProvisional or revisedLatestShaded bands: governments (see labels)Hover or use arrow keys to read a value

What this measures

The average number of people receiving a DWP disability benefit over the financial year.

What this doesn’t measure

People with a disability who do not claim, or the severity of the conditions supported.

Important caveat

These are DWP's own expenditure and caseload tables for Great Britain, by financial year. Expenditure is in cash terms unless the metric says real terms, in which case DWP has restated it at 2026/27 prices with the GDP deflator. Caseloads are averages over the year, not the number at any date, and a person can appear in more than one benefit's caseload. Benefits devolved to Scotland leave these tables from the year of transfer, so recent years cover a smaller population than earlier ones for the affected benefits. Forecast years in the same workbook are not shown here.

Revision history

No period of this series has been revised since it was first ingested here. Revisions are recorded automatically when a later release publishes a different figure for the same period.

Source

Publisher
DWP
Publication
Benefit expenditure and caseload tables: outturn and forecast (Spring Forecast 2026)
Release
Benefit expenditure and caseload tables: Spring Forecast 2026, published 26 March 2026
Source file
dwp_outturn.xlsx
File SHA-256
11a591e4a2144ed6a686be6a9ded4e5d5b3b8d4887bd57c1ff0632bd251009de
Retrieved
3 September 2026
Sheet
Disability benefits
Table
Disability benefits caseload, thousands
Row
Total
Column
2024/25
Cell value
6531 (× 1,000 = 6,531,000 people)
Geography
K03000001
Unit
people
API
/api/metrics/disability_benefit_caseload · /series · /vintages

Government periods

Change during each government, from the level inherited to the last complete period before it left office. Describes the period; does not attribute cause.

Conservative 2019–20245,278,000Year ending March 20195,958,000Year ending March 2024↑ 12.9%
Conservative 2017–20195,278,000Year ending March 20175,278,000Year ending March 2019→ 0.0%
Conservative 2015–20175,031,000Year ending March 20155,278,000Year ending March 2017↑ 4.9%
Coalition 2010–20154,909,000Year ending March 20105,031,000Year ending March 2015↑ 2.5%
Labour 2005–20104,290,000Year ending March 20054,909,000Year ending March 2010↑ 14.4%
Labour 2001–20053,719,000Year ending March 20014,290,000Year ending March 2005↑ 15.4%
Labour 1997–20013,144,000Year ending March 19973,719,000Year ending March 2001↑ 18.3%
Conservative 1992–19971,642,000Year ending March 19923,144,000Year ending March 1997↑ 91.5%
Conservative 1987–19921,033,000Year ending March 19871,642,000Year ending March 1992↑ 59.0%
Conservative 1983–1987602,000Year ending March 19831,033,000Year ending March 1987↑ 71.6%
Conservative 1979–1983339,000Year ending March 1979602,000Year ending March 1983↑ 77.6%

Full comparison with chart

Release
Benefit expenditure and caseload tables: Spring Forecast 2026 · publication page
Last updated
26 March 2026
Next release expected
Not yet announced (estimated from the usual cadence)