Around a third of people in the UK receive some form of state benefit, which works out at roughly 24 million people as of early 2025.

Quick Scoop: headline numbers

  • About 24 million people were claiming at least one Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) benefit in February 2025 (out of 17 main benefits covered).
  • Of these, about 13.2 million were over State Pension age (mostly getting the State Pension, sometimes alongside other benefits).
  • Around 10 million were of working age , and about 800,000 were children under 16 receiving Disability Living Allowance as a child.
  • Within that total, there were 7.9 million Universal Credit claimants in June 2025 , showing how central UC has become in the system.

So when you see forum or social media claims like “35% of the UK claim benefits”, they’re in the right ballpark: the official data suggest roughly one in three people in the UK are in a household where at least one DWP benefit is being paid.

What “on benefits” actually covers

When people ask “how many people claim benefits in the UK” , they’re often mixing very different groups together.

Key parts of the picture:

  • State Pension
    • Around 13.1 million people were receiving the State Pension in early 2025.
* This alone is more than a fifth of the total UK population and over half of all benefit recipients.
  • Working‑age benefits (excluding pensioners)
    • About 7.9 million people were on Universal Credit by mid‑2025, which includes people out of work and people in low‑paid work.
* Around **5 million** people were claiming either Personal Independence Payment (PIP) or Disability Living Allowance (DLA) under DWP rules in early 2025, many of whom are also working, retired, or in education.
  • Children on disability benefits
    • Around 800,000 under‑16s were receiving DLA as a child.

In other words, “benefits” is not just unemployment support: it includes pensions, disability support, top‑ups for low wages, and help with housing costs.

Snapshot table: who’s receiving what?

Here’s a simplified view of key benefits using the latest available official figures (rounded):

[3] [3] [3] [3] [3] [3] [3] [3] [3] [3] [3] [3] [3] [3]
Benefit (Great Britain) Approx. claimants Notes
Any DWP benefit (17 main benefits combined) 24 million people Includes overlap: many people receive more than one benefit.
State Pension 13.1 million Core income for people over State Pension age.
Universal Credit 7.9 million (June 2025) Working‑age benefit; includes both in‑work and out‑of‑work claimants.
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) 3.7 million (Feb 2025, excluding devolved Scottish policy) Extra costs of disability or long‑term ill‑health. Many recipients also work.
Housing Benefit 1.9 million Phasing down as new claimants move to Universal Credit.
Attendance Allowance 1.9 million Support with care needs for older people.
PIP or DLA (all ages, under DWP) 5.0 million Reflects rising disability and health‑related claims.

Why the numbers look so high

Several big forces are pushing the figures up:

  1. Ageing population
    • As more people live longer, the number of State Pension recipients steadily rises.
  1. Shift to Universal Credit
    • UC has replaced many older benefits, so a single modern benefit now covers multiple situations (out of work, low income, housing support), which concentrates the numbers.
  1. Health and disability trends
    • The number of people claiming PIP has risen sharply, up about 12% between February 2024 and February 2025 alone.
 * Long‑term health conditions and mental health issues after the pandemic are a major driver, especially among working‑age adults.
  1. Labour market changes
    • There are notable groups such as graduates out of work and on benefits, and people who have left the labour market due to sickness or caring responsibilities.

A common misunderstanding online is to treat everyone “on benefits” as unemployed. In reality, a big share are pensioners, disabled people, or workers getting top‑ups because wages and housing costs don’t cover basic living expenses.

Forum and “latest news” angle

This topic is actively debated on UK forums, especially when new figures or proposed cuts hit the headlines.

Typical discussion threads focus on:

  • “Why work if so many people claim benefits?”
    • Posts sometimes cite numbers like “35% of the UK claim benefits” to argue the system is too generous, but comments often push back by pointing out how low benefit levels actually are and how many claimants are in work or are pensioners.
  • “People who never have to work”
    • Stories about millions “never having to work” usually refer to people with serious long‑term illness, disability, or caring responsibilities, but headlines can frame it in a way that stokes anger.
  • Upcoming welfare debates
    • As of mid‑2025, there were active debates in Parliament about cutting or tightening benefits, which triggered explainers on how many people currently receive support and how that compares with previous years.

A recurring theme in those discussions is how easily raw numbers can be taken out of context, especially when they don’t distinguish between pensioners, disabled people, low‑paid workers and those out of work.

TL;DR

  • Roughly 24 million people in Great Britain were claiming at least one DWP benefit in early 2025, including pensioners, disabled people, low‑income workers, and those out of work.
  • That’s about one in three people , but only a fraction are unemployed; most are pensioners or people whose health, disability, or low wages mean they need support.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.