Over £93m was spent in benefits to West Devon residents last financial year to April according to a new benefit bill tool launched by the pressure group TaxPayers’ Alliance.

The tool estimates that the total amount spent on six primary benefits in the area, including Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Disability Living Allowance, Housing Benefit, Employment and Support Allowance and Carers’ Allowance.

In West Devon this adds up to £93,317,493 made up of £48.3m on Universal Credit, £24.4m on PIP, £6.9m on Disability Living Allowance, £6m on Housing Benefit, £4.7m on Employment and Support Allowance and £3m on Carers’ Allowance.

The TaxPayers’ Alliance has estimated that this equates to £1,584 per resident in West Devon.

The total benefits bill has risen 17.1 per cent in two years from £80m to £93m in the borough. Data for May 2026 revealed 4,000 households received Universal Credit, with one in 19 people assessed as having limited capability for work or work-related activity.

Data for July 2026 revealed 3,268 people received PIP that month. The main reason for people claiming PIP was recorded as “psychiatric conditions”.

Rebecca Green, who runs Okehampton Community Foodbank, said: “The number is entirely unexpected, but we must bear in mind that the percentage of benefit fraud is very small and a large percentage of people on Universal Credit are working. We have a rural infrastructure, a higher than average elderly population and less mental health support in the area.”

Statistics for the financial year 24/25 reveal that across the whole of the UK only 3.3 per cent was paid out incorrectly due to fraud or clerical error. Of this number less than one per cent was down to benefit fraud.

The new Benefits Bill tool is designed to allow people to enter their postcode and see an itemised breakdown of welfare spending in their area.

It compares total spending and spending per resident, as well as showing local benefit claimant figures and changes over time.

The organisation describes the tool as ‘groundbreaking’ and says it is intended to make official welfare statistics easier for taxpayers to understand.

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said the tool was designed to show ‘what our broken welfare system means in the real world’.

He added: ‘It brings the big numbers that we hear on TV and radio, right down to what it means for you and your town’.

The TPA argues that rising welfare spending is putting pressure on public finances and says it wants politicians to take action to reduce the overall cost of the benefits system.

Founded in 2004 by Matthew Elliott and Andrew Allum, the TaxPayers' Alliance campaigns to ‘reform taxes and public services, cut waste and speak up for British taxpayers’.