More than £130 million a year is being spent on six major benefits in Altrincham and Sale West, according to new analysis of government data.
Figures published by the TaxPayers’ Alliance put the annual total for the constituency at £130,714,966 in 2025/26 – equivalent to around £358,000 a day or £1,280 for every resident.
The campaign group's new My Benefits Bill tool says the total has increased by 18.1% in two years.
More than half of the £130.7m is accounted for by Universal Credit, with £68.2m spent in Altrincham and Sale West and 5,630 households claiming the benefit.
A further £33.6m is spent on Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which helps people with the additional costs associated with long-term physical or mental health conditions or disabilities. There are 4,477 PIP claimants in the constituency.
The remaining total comprises £10.7m in Housing Benefit, £9m in Disability Living Allowance, £5.4m in Employment and Support Allowance and £3.8m in Carer's Allowance.
The figures should not be interpreted as showing that everyone receiving the benefits is unemployed. Universal Credit can be paid to people in work, while PIP is not means-tested and can be claimed regardless of whether someone is working.
Separate DWP data indicates the growth in PIP locally has been substantial. There were 4,387 people receiving PIP in Altrincham and Sale West in April this year, compared with 2,204 in 2019.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance figures also show that one in 25 working-age adults in Altrincham and Sale West is assessed as having Limited Capability for Work and Work-Related Activity (LCWRA).
Across Trafford as a whole, the same analysis puts annual spending on the six benefits at £431.4m, equivalent to £1,790 per resident and an increase of 19.1% over two years.
That includes £235.1m in Universal Credit and £103.6m in PIP.
Connor Rand, Labour MP for Altrincham and Sale West, said: “The welfare bill is too high and has been for many years. This is bad for the taxpayer, but it’s also bad for those who are written off to a life on benefits.
“While change is urgently needed to make welfare spending financially sustainable, crude cuts which plunge people into poverty are not the answer.
“The best way to bring the welfare bill down is to put work and opportunity at the heart of the system, to give people the chance of education, training, and a decent job to improve their lives.
“This is the kind of difficult problem our politics has ducked for too long. Andy Burnham has promised to tackle it head-on, and the government will be unveiling its proposals for transforming the welfare system, including PIP, in the coming months.”
