In our first monthly update after adding the new Benefits Reliance Indicator to the Economic Wellbeing Explorer, we are focusing on how Benefits Reliance interacts with our other Explorer indicators.

• Benefits Reliance shows where income from certain benefits is 20% or more of total income.
• Overdrawn Accounts shows where balances dip below £0 on two or more occasions in a month.
• Low Emergency Resilience shows where balances dip below £100 on two or more occasions in a month.
• Living Beyond Means shows where people are spending 120% of their income each month

You can explore these indicators alongside open contextual data on housing, education, health and more in the Economic Wellbeing Explorer. The data within the Explorer has been refreshed to the 26th of April 2026. 

Benefits Reliance

Benefits Reliance helps to understand who is receiving income from benefits and how their overall incomes are affected by economic and policy changes. This indicator shows the accounts where more than 20% of income is from Universal Credit, Housing Credit and Tax Credit, alongside income from wages. While this is the first monthly update with the Benefits Reliance Indicator, data is back dated so we are able to compare how this has changed over the past few months, and see that there has been an increase across Great Britain over the last month. 

• Scotland: 6.63%, an increase from 6.57%
• England: 6.7%, an increase from 6.68%
• Wales: 8.17%, an increase from 8.13%

Low Emergency resilience 

In most instances, account holders with the highest rates of benefits reliance (BR) also have the highest rates of low emergency resilience (LER), across all countries, age ranges and salary bands this is the case except for people in the £25-40k salary band in England, where it is slightly different. Here the highest rate of BR, 9.07%, was for the £25-40k salary band which has the second highest rate of LER of 35.28%, compared to the highest of 44.2% as seen in the <£25k band. 

Living Beyond Means

When it comes to age, those with the lowest rates of living beyond means (LBM) have the highest rates of benefits reliance. When looking at salaries, the lowest rates of LBM is paired with the lowest rates of BR. 

This may be in part to those who are older and living on the pension have higher rates of LBM but as the pension does not factor into the benefits reliance indicator they in turn have the lowest rates. Young people in the 18-39 age band have the lowest rates of LBM but the highest rates of BR. This may be in part to struggles with entering the workforce and starting careers, paired with low living costs as they are more likely to be sharing accommodation.

Overdrawn Accounts

Differences in age bands for Overdrawn Accounts (OA) mirrors those of low emergency resilience, highest rates of benefits reliance also have the highest rates of overdrawn accounts, and the lowest, the lowest. These rates decrease with age, with those 18-39 having the highest rates of overdrawn accounts at 22.93% for Scotland, 22.09% for England, and 25.30% for Wales; and those over 70 having the lowest rates of 3.39%, 4.11%, and 4.41% respectively.  

Similarly with salary bands, almost all remain within that same trend, lowest salaries having the lowest overdraft and highest benefits reliance,excluding English salaries of under £25,00 and £25-40,000 which have switched position.