Social Security Benefits: Compensation
(asked on 18th December 2025) - View Source
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the mean and mode amounts of consolation payments are, in any years his Department has data for.
The number of consolatory payments authorised and the mean amounts per financial year to benefit claimants in the last ten years are in the table (below).
The department records aggregated data for each quarter rather than individual level payments, therefore we are not able to supply a mode amount paid without additional work which would require disproportionate cost. Consolatory payments recognise personal impacts such as gross inconvenience or severe distress.
Complaints to DWP have increased year on year in-line with increases in caseloads, as well as the department continuing to improve its handling processes. The rise in special payments made to recognise impacts on customers’ well‑being, reflects better acknowledgement of when service has fallen short.
Financial Year | Quantity Authorised | Net Amount Paid | Mean Net Amount Paid |
2015/16 | 2170 | £142,025 | £65 |
2016/17 | 2100 | £135,535 | £65 |
2017/18 | 2705 | £206,515 | £75 |
2018/19 | 3115 | £215,695 | £70 |
2019/20 | 3115 | £235,680 | £75 |
2020/21 | 3150 | £294,315 | £95 |
2021/22 | 6480 | £525,855 | £80 |
2022/23 | 7860 | £658,810 | £85 |
2023/24 | 7120 | £680,540 | £95 |
2024/25 | 6445 | £639,535 | £100 |
Notes:
- Data is rounded to the nearest 5
- This data is available from internal operational datasets, but not from an Official or National statistic quality source
The department does not keep a breakdown of consolatory payments awarded by region.