Need, council by council
Low incomes and benefits in each of Greater Manchester’s councils, beside the number of people who cannot speak English well or at all: the people most likely to need help with a benefit form, a letter or a health service in their own language.
| Council | Residents | People on low incomes | On Universal Credit (May 2026) | Entitled to PIP (July 2026) | Asked for a PIP decision to be reconsidered (the year to July 2026) | Cannot speak English well or at all |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bolton | 295,960 | 98,275 (33.2%) | 50,394 | 24,691 | 1,641 | 9,148 |
| Bury | 193,851 | 49,117 (25.3%) | 27,151 | 14,764 | 1,000 | 3,176 |
| Manchester | 551,938 | 210,707 (38.2%) | 112,266 | 49,720 | 4,161 | 21,432 |
| Oldham | 242,087 | 89,144 (36.8%) | 46,125 | 21,096 | 1,744 | 8,893 |
| Rochdale | 223,771 | 78,519 (35.1%) | 42,182 | 20,462 | 1,486 | 6,265 |
| Salford | 269,922 | 87,049 (32.2%) | 49,776 | 25,252 | 1,902 | 6,411 |
| Stockport | 294,770 | 55,946 (19.0%) | 31,831 | 19,446 | 1,531 | 2,399 |
| Tameside | 231,070 | 68,816 (29.8%) | 38,418 | 20,840 | 1,510 | 3,606 |
| Trafford | 235,053 | 40,497 (17.2%) | 22,460 | 13,977 | 1,039 | 2,708 |
| Wigan | 329,330 | 79,872 (24.3%) | 45,200 | 29,626 | 1,792 | 2,374 |
| Greater Manchester | 2,867,752 | 857,942 (29.9%) | 465,803 | 239,874 | 17,806 | 66,412 |
People on low incomes are the English indices of deprivation 2025’s count; benefits are DWP’s, by where people live; residents are Census 2021. The columns count different people in different years and are not added together.
Sources
Built from public information: Census 2021 (ONS, via Nomis: TS021 ethnic group, TS024 main language, TS029 proficiency in English); the English indices of deprivation 2025 (MHCLG); the Department for Work and Pensions (Stat-Xplore); the Charity Commission for England and Wales’s register of charities. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.