Benefit spending is constantly in the news but how much do we really know about where the benefits money goes in the UK?

Well, we have collected the data as part of our annual analysis of UK public spending. It shows how benefit spending dominates the UK's budget each year - but it also breaks it down in detail.

What it shows is that the Department for Welfare and Pensions is the biggest spending department in the UK - spending £166.98bn in 2011-12, which is Of that huge sum, £159bn was spent on benefits - an increase of 1.1% on the previous year. That is 23% of all public spending.

Ask people where that money goes and the assumptions might be on unemployment or incapacity benefit. In fact, 47% of UK benefit spending goes on state pensions of £74.22bn a year, more than the £48.2bn the UK spends on servicing its debt.

It's followed by housing benefit of £16.94bn (+5.2%) and Disability living allowance of £12.57bn (+3.3%). Jobseekers' allowance is actually one of the smaller benefits - £4.91bn in 2011-12, an increase of 7.6% on the previous year.

And that's just the benefits that the DWP distributes. HM Revenue & Customs is responsible for tax credits and crucially child benefit, which has just been cut. That was worth £12.22bn in 2011-12.

The cuts reflect changing public attitudes on benefits, as shown by the British Social Attitudes Survey. The charts below show how the British public is much less likely to think benefits should be increased than they did a few years ago - especially for those who are unemployed.

The full data is below. What can you do with it?

Data summary

UK benefit spending by the Department for Work & Pensions Click heading to sort table. Download this data AREA Type 2010-11, £bn 2011-12, £bn % change, inc inflation DWP Total Total 160.08 166.98 1.9 Benefit spending in Great Britain Total 153.6 159 1.1 State Pension Benefit 69.88 74.22 3.7 Housing Benefit Benefit 15.74 16.94 5.2 Disability Living Allowance Benefit 11.88 12.57 3.3 Pension Credit and Minimum Income Guarantee Benefit 8.32 8.11 -4.8 Income Support Benefit 7.79 6.92 -13.2 Rent Rebates Benefit 5.28 5.45 0.8 Attendance Allowance Benefit 5.23 5.34 -0.3 Incapacity Benefit Benefit 5.56 4.94 -13.3 Jobseekers Allowance Benefit 4.46 4.91 7.6 Council Tax Benefit Benefit 4.79 4.83 -1.7 Employment and Support Allowance Benefit 2.25 3.58 55.8 Statutory Sick Pay and Statutory Maternity Pay Benefit 2.46 2.55 1.2 Expenditure incurred by the Social Fund Benefit 3.81 2.37 -39.2 Carers Allowance Benefit 1.57 1.73 7.7 Financial Assistance Scheme Benefit -1.44 1.24 184.6 Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit Benefit 0.89 0.89 -2.3 Severe Disablement Allowance Benefit 0.89 0.88 -3.1 National Insurance Fund Benefit 1.09 0.82 -26.6 Bereavement Benefits Benefit 0.61 0.59 -5.5 TV Licences for the over 75s Benefit 0.58 0.59 -0.8 Other Benefits Benefit 0.5 0.4 -22.7 Maternity Allowance Benefit 0.34 0.37 4.2 Other Programmes Benefit 0.2 0.18 -9.3 Departmental Operating Costs Total 2.84 1.45 -49.9 Operational Delivery Dept 1.29 2.49 87.7 Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Administration Dept 0.58 0.55 -8.8 Health and Safety Executive Dept 0.2 0.18 -15.8 Executive Non-Departmental Public Bodies (Net) Dept 0.39 0.38 -6.3 Employment Programmes Dept 1.81 0.88 -52.8 Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission Dept 0.39 0.48 20.9

• DATA: download the full spreadsheet of DWP spending

• SOURCE: DWP ANNUAL REPORT

• DATA: Social Attitudes Survey on welfare spending

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