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This roundup of claims has been compiled by Full Fact, the UK’s largest fact checking charity working to find, expose and counter the harms of bad information.
Benefits and the amount the Government spends on welfare has become one of the most hotly debated issues in politics.
Full Fact’s new explainer tackles some of the most common questions and claims we see about the benefits system and how much it costs.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) forecast that in real terms £342.8 billion will be spent on benefits in Great Britain in 2026/27 – up from £329.1 billion the previous financial year. Nearly half of it is spent on pensions.
Since 2020/21 overall real terms benefits spending is forecast to have increased by approximately 16%. As a percentage of GDP, benefits spending is lower than it was in 2020/21 (though it is worth noting that the UK’s GDP was heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly in that year), but it has been increasing since 2022/23.
The state pension makes up the largest part of welfare spending, followed by universal credit, then incapacity and disability benefits.
According to DWP figures, 24.3 million people in Great Britain were claiming some form of benefits in August 2025. Ten million of these people were of working age.
We often see specific claims about immigrants claiming benefits – whether they can depends on their immigration status.
Most immigrants who are in the UK on temporary visas (including work and study visas), asylum seekers and those who are in the UK without the right to be here (for example, whose visas have expired) are not eligible to claim mainstream benefits. This is called “no recourse to public funds” (NRPF).
Asylum seekers can apply for specific financial and housing support from the Government, but this operates separately from the benefits system. We have written more about the support available to asylum seekers here.
In contrast, immigrants with EU settled status, indefinite leave to remain or refugee status are typically able to access the benefits system in the same way as UK-born people can.
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