DWP benefits statistics: August 2019
Statistics on DWP-administered benefits.
Documents
Details
We are seeking user feedback on this HTML version of the statistical summary, which replaces the PDF version. Please send comments to: [email protected].
This is a summary of the latest National Statistics about the benefits administered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). This statistical summary document is published on a 6 monthly basis in February and August each year.
Data on DWP benefits is also released quarterly through:
- Stat-Xplore
- NOMIS
- data tables
During the quality assurance of Bereavement Support Payment (BSP) experimental official statistics, DWP statisticians have identified an issue with claims in payment figures. The data tables have been removed from the May and August 2019 publications. Tables 2-7 have been removed from the November 2019 publication. Table 1 is still available in the November publication onwards. Further information can be found on the DWP benefits statistics collection page and in the “Welfare and Benefits” community on StatsUserNet. Email [email protected] if you have any comments or questions.
Data on Stat-Xplore
A new ward level hierarchy has been introduced to enable the creation of Ward level data. Due to the 2019 local government reorganisation, 5 new unitary authorities were created in April 2019, replacing 15 local authority districts. The new authorities are now reflected in our published figures for Housing Benefit administration from April 2019. Residency-based Housing Benefit data on Stat-Xplore will be updated to reflect the changes as part of a routine refresh in spring 2020.
Changes to UK State Pension age have meant that, after December 2018, claimants are now reaching State Pension age beyond their 65th birthday. A new age band has been introduced for ESA and JSA to show the number of claimants who are aged 65 and over.
We identified a small error in the number of Widow’s Benefit claimants on Stat-Xplore for February and May 2019. We removed the Widow’s Benefit datasets for February 2019 from Stat-Xplore and delayed the release of May 2019 Widow’s Benefit datasets. Figures for February and May 2019 have now been corrected and will be released on Stat-Xplore on 17 December 2019.
We will also introduce a new ‘65 and over’ age band for Widow’s Benefit and bereavement benefits datasets on 17 December 2019.
NOMIS datasets
We are no longer updating NOMIS datasets. May 2019 was the last release of new data via NOMIS for the datasets listed under the “Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study” section. August 2019 is now the last new release of datasets under “5% Sample Data”. Existing datasets will remain on NOMIS under a “Discontinued” banner.
More information
Find further information about the statistics, including details on changes and revisions, in the background and methodology documents.
Updates to this page
Published 13 August 2019Last updated 17 January 2020 + show all updates
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Removed the Bereavement Support Payment data tables while the data is being corrected. Added an explanation to the page detail.
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Added note to explain corrected figures for the number of Widow's Benefit claimants for February and May 2019 will be released on Stat-Xplore on 17 December 2019.
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First published.