Receiving non-work benefits
Key points
- About one in seven working-age adults in London receives a key out-of-work benefit, a proportion which is similar to the national average.
- Looking at the figures in more detail, while the numbers receiving disability benefits are smaller than the national average, the numbers for lone parents are greater.
- Proportions of working-age adults receiving out-of-work benefits vary enormously within London. For example, the proportions in Hackney or Barking & Dagenham are three times the rate of Richmond and Kingston.
- Every borough except Richmond and Kingston has at least one ward in which more than one in seven working-age adults receive out-of-work benefits.
- The rate of working-age adults receiving out-of-work benefits was the same in 2009 as it was in 2002, but the trends in Inner and Outer London are different.
- Inner London boroughs with the highest levels - Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Newham and Islington - have all seen reductions in the last few years. Hammersmith and Fulham is the only Inner London borough in which the rate has risen
- By contrast, the proportions in Outer London boroughs have risen without exception.
- The proportion of pensioners receiving Pension Credit Guarantee also varies across London, with much higher rates in Inner London than Outer London. Despite only having one-fifth of the pensioner population, the Inner East & South has one-third of the pensioners receiving the Pension Credit Guarantee.
Find out more about Receiving non-work benefits by visiting the indicators in this section, listed on the right.
The indicators in this section of the website cover selected out-of-work benefits paid to working-age adults and pensioners. Dependent children in households receiving out-of-work benefits are also discussed.
Every chosen indicator relates to recipients who are either out-of-work or retired with no savings.
Please bear in mind that while out-of-work benefits are the best available measure of workless low income, they do not give the most accurate picture of low income overall. A person can receive out-of-work benefits and not be in a low-income household if their spouse is working. On the other hand, London has a high proportion of families who are in work but on low incomes.
Relevant Indicators
Glossary
Benefit recipiency levels:
the proportion of working-age adults receiving out-of-work benefits
Key out-of-work benefits:
Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA), Income Support (IS), Incapacity Benefit (IB), Severe Disablement Allowance, Carer's Allowance. Disability Living Allowance is not a key out-of-work benefit as it is available to people who may be in work and is not means-tested.
Pension Credit Guarantee:
Paid to those pensioners who have little or no income. In 2008 the guarantee brought a pensioner's income to £124.05 a week for single pensioners and £189.35 a week for pensioner couples
Inner London:
Camden, Hackney, Hammersmith & Fulham, Haringey, Islington, Kensington & Chelsea, Lambeth, Lewisham, Newham, Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth, Westminster
Outer London:
Barking & Dagenham, Barnet, Bromley, Bexley, Brent, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Redbridge, Richmond upon Thames, Sutton, Waltham Forest
Workless :
People who are not working but want a job and those people who are officially unemployed make up a group who can be described as 'lacking work but wanting work'. Anyone else of working-age who is not working is therefore 'lacking work but not wanting work'. The total workless population therefore includes those lacking and wanting work as well as those lacking but not wanting work.