GLASGOW has seen the biggest fall in the number of benefit claimants across Britain since 2010, new figures have revealed.

However, they were released by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as the UK Statistics Authority said it was examining claims the UK Government had misused official figures in an effort to show that its welfare reforms were working.

According to the DWP, the City of Glasgow topped the table for the reduction in the number of welfare claimants, with nearly 2850 fewer people claiming the main out of work benefits – income support, sickness benefits and Jobseeker's Allowance – in the two years to August 2012.

UK-wide, the number claiming the main out-of-work benefits has fallen by more than 230,000 since the General Election.

The table shows Glasgow has posted by far the biggest drop, from 85,780 in August 2010 to 82,930 in August 2012. The next largest fall is Caerphilly in Wales, with a drop of 1670. Among the lowest, with a fall of just 250, were Harrogate and Tunbridge Wells.

Falls in other Scottish local authority areas during the same period were: Aberdeen, 1000; North Lanarkshire, 740; Aberdeenshire, 710; West Lothian, 650; Fife, 580; Highland, 350; Edinburgh, 330; East Dunbartonshire, 300, and East Renfrewshire, 260.

Mark Hoban, the Employment Minister, said: "With more people in work than ever before it is clear that our reforms are helping people off benefits and into jobs. The vast majority of people don't want to live a life on benefits, so it's good to see that in Glasgow the number of people claiming welfare is dropping."

He admitted the Coalition still had a long way to go but stressed that through initiatives such as the Work Programme and by reassessing everyone trapped on sickness benefits, it was "giving people the help they need to move into a job".

However, as the UK Government's new benefit cap was introduced yesterday in four London boroughs at the start of a roll-out that will eventually include Scotland, the statistics watchdog said it was examining a number of complaints surrounding claims made last week by Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary.

He suggested DWP figures showing a fall in the number of people expected to be hit by the Government's new benefits cap proved it had already been a "strong incentive" for people to find work.

However, this was disputed by Jonathan Portes, of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research think-tank and a former DWP chief economist.

The TUC is among those to have asked the statistics authority to launch an investigation.

Frances O'Grady, its General Secretary, said the Government's own analysts believed the 16,000 drop was due to ministers altering eligibility rules, not changes in behaviour.

She said: "The DWP is a serial offender for misusing statistics. If you need to make the supporting evidence up, then you must have a pretty weak argument."

After the watchdog confirmed it was looking into the claims, a DWP spokesman said: "Jobcentre Plus data clearly show 8000 people who would have been affected by the benefit cap have moved into work and 25,000 are accepting help to get a job.

"We have followed the correct procedures for publishing this data and it is available for anyone to study. Claims to the contrary are utterly unfounded."

The cap on the amount of benefits people can receive was introduced yesterday in the four London boroughs of Croydon, Bromley, Haringey and Enfield.

It will mean couples and single parents receive no more than £500 a week in benefits; the limit for single people is £350, although there are some exemptions.

UK-wide implementation of the cap will begin in July and the policy should come fully into force by the end of September.

The cap is being brought in to cut spending on welfare and to bring benefits payments into line with average income.