Green’s Dictionary of Slang

the local office of the Department of Social Security, from where one gets unemployment and other benefits.

1990		J. Healy Streets Above Us (1991) 40: The man looks puzzled. ‘What is this ‘social’?’ ‘It’s our benefits, chief,’ says Finn.
1991		D. Widgery Some Lives! 19: There has been trouble down at the Social.
2001		(con. 1981) A. Wheatle East of Acre Lane 51: Fucking social are no use, the gas people are on my case.
2012		J. Fagan Panopticon (2013) 125: If the polis nae get me in secure, then the social cannae keep me.
2022		A. Parks May God Forgive 77: ‘The mum died and the social got in touch with him’.