Social protection spending in the United Kingdom reached 383.9 billion British pounds in 2024/25, compared with 364.7 billion pounds in the previous year.

Forecast: General Government Expenditure on Social Protection in the UK 2023 - 2027 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

In 2024/25, the government of the United Kingdom spent approximately 383 billion British pounds on social protection, with spending on old age social protection amounting to 162.7 billion pounds.

Forecast: Total Expenditure on Gross Social Protection in the UK 2024 - 2028 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

In 2024/25, public spending on social protection in the United Kingdom was ***** British pounds per capita, ranging from ***** pounds per capita in Northern Ireland, to ***** pounds per capita in South East England.

Forecast: Family Gross Social Protection in the UK 2024 - 2028 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

In 2022/23 the UK spent approximately 10.2 percent of its GDP on social security, compared with 10.7 percent in the previous year.

Forecast: Unemployment Gross Social Protection in the UK 2024 - 2028 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

Social protection spending on unemployment in the United Kingdom was 1.3 billion pounds in 2024/25, compared with 1.21 billion in the previous financial year.

The government of the United Kingdom spent approximately 162.7 billion British pounds on old age social protection in 2024/25, compared with 155.9 billion in the previous financial year.

Forecast: Means-Tested Gross Social Protection in the UK 2024 - 2028 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

In 2024/25, the UK spent approximately 13.3 percent of its GDP on social protection, unchanged from the previous year.

In 2025/26, the budgeted expenditure of the United Kingdom government is expected to be reach 1,335 billion British pounds, with the highest spending function being the 379 billion pounds expected to be spent on social protection, which includes pensions and other welfare benefits. Government spending on health was expected to be 277 billion pounds and was the second-highest spending function in this fiscal year, while education was the third-highest spending category at 146 billion pounds. UK government debt approaching 100 percent of GDP At the end of the 2024/25 financial year, the UK's government debt amounted to approximately 2.8 trillion British pounds, around 96 percent of GDP that year. This is due to the UK having to borrow money to cover its spending commitments, especially at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when this deficit amounted to 314.6 billion pounds. Without significant cuts to spending or tax rises, the current government is aiming to reduce this debt by creating a stronger, more productive economy. Though this is how Britain's post WW2 debt was reduced, the country faces far more structural problems to growth than it did in the mid 20th century. Income Tax the UK's main revenue source Income Tax is expected to raise approximately 329 billion British pounds in the 2025/26 financial year, and be the largest revenue source for the government that year. Value Added Tax (VAT) receipts are expected to raise 214 billion pounds, with National Insurance contributions reaching 199 billion pounds. Although National Insurance rates for employees has actually fallen recently, the rate which employers pay was one of the main tax rises announced in the Autumn 2024 budget, rising from 13.8 percent to 15 percent. Though this avoided raising tax for workers directly, many UK businesses were critical of the move, with taxation seen as the main issue facing them at the start of 2025.

Forecast: Housing Gross Social Protection in the UK 2024 - 2028 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

The CLARISSA Cash Plus intervention represented an innovative social protection scheme for tackling social ills, including the worst forms of child labour (WFCL). A universal and unconditional ‘cash plus’ programme, it combined community mobilisation, case work, and cash transfers (CTs). It was implemented in a high-density, low-income neighbourhood in Dhaka to build individual, family, and group capacities to meet needs. This, in turn, was expected to lead to a corresponding decrease in deprivation and community-identified social issues that negatively affect wellbeing, including WFCL. Four principles underpinned the intervention: Unconditionality, Universality, Needs-centred and people-led, and Emergent and open-ended.The intervention took place in Dhaka – North Gojmohol – over a 27-month period, between October 2021 and December 2023, to test and study the impact of providing unconditional and people‑led support to everyone in a community. Cash transfers were provided between January and June 2023 in monthly instalments, plus one investment transfer in September 2023. A total of 1,573 households received cash, through the Upay mobile financial service. Cash was complemented by a ‘plus’ component, implemented between October 2021 and December 2023. Referred to as relational needs-based community organising (NBCO), a team of 20 community mobilisers (CMs) delivered case work at the individual and family level and community mobilisation at the group level. The intervention was part of the wider CLARISSA programme, led by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and funded by UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). The intervention was implemented by Terre des hommes (Tdh) in Bangladesh and evaluated in collaboration with the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) and researchers from the University of Bath and the Open University, UK.The evaluation of the CLARISSA Social Protection pilot was rooted in contribution analysis that combined multiple methods over more than three years in line with emerging best practice guidelines for mixed methods research on children, work, and wellbeing. Quantitative research included bi-monthly monitoring surveys administered by the project’s community mobilisers (CMs), including basic questions about wellbeing, perceived economic resilience, school attendance, etc. This was complimented by baseline, midline, and endline surveys, which collected information about key outcome indicators within the sphere of influence of the intervention, such as children’s engagement with different forms of work and working conditions, with schooling and other activities, household living conditions and sources of income, and respondents’ perceptions of change. Qualitative tools were used to probe topics and results of interest, as well as impact pathways. These included reflective diaries written by the community mobilisers; three rounds of focus group discussions (FGDs) with community members; three rounds of key informant interviews (KIIs) with members of case study households; and long-term ethnographic observation.Quantitative DataThe quantitative evaluation of the CLARISSA Cash Plus intervention involved several data collection methods to gather information about household living standards, children’s education and work, and social dynamics. The data collection included a pre-intervention census, four periodic surveys, and 13 rounds of bi-monthly monitoring surveys, all conducted between late 2020 and late 2023. Details of each instrument are as follows:Census: Conducted in October/November 2020 in the target neighbourhood of North Gojmohol (n=1,832) and the comparison neighbourhood of Balurmath (n=2,365)Periodic surveys: Baseline (February 2021, n=752 in North Gojmohol), Midline 1 (before cash) (October 2022, n=771 in North Gojmohol), Midline 2 (after 6 rounds of cash) (July 2023, n=769 in North Gojmohol), and Endline (December 2023, n=750 in North Gojmohol and n=773 in Balumath)Bi-monthly monitoring data (13 rounds): Conducted between December 2021 and December 2023 in North Gojmohol (average of 1,400 households per round)The present repository summarizes this information, organized as follows:1.1 Bimonthly survey (household): Panel dataset comprising 13 rounds of bi-monthly monitoring data at the household level (average of 1,400 households per round, total of 18,379 observations)1.2 Bimonthly survey (child): Panel dataset comprising 13 rounds of bi-monthly monitoring data at the child level (aged 5 to 16 at census) (average of 940 children per round, total of 12,213 observations)2.1 Periodic survey (household): Panel dataset comprising 5 periodic surveys (census, baseline, midline 1, midline 2, endline) at the household level (average of 750 households per period, total of 3,762 observations)2.2 Periodic survey (child): Panel dataset comprising 4 periodic surveys (baseline, midline 1, midline 2, endline) at the child level (average of 3,100 children per period, total of 12,417 observations)3.0 Balurmat - North Gojmohol panel: Balanced panel dataset comprising 558 households in North Gojmohol and 773 households in Balurmath, observed both at 2020 census and 2023 endline (total of 2,662 observations)4.0 Questionnaires: Original questionnaires for all datasetsAll datasets are provided in Stata format (.dta) and Excel format (.xlsx) and are accompanied by their respective dictionary in Excel format (.xlsx).Qualitative DataThe qualitative study was conducted in three rounds: the first round of IDIs and FGDs took place between December 2022 and January 2023; the second round took place from April to May 2023; and the third round took place from November to December 2023. KIIs were taken during the 2nd round of study in May 2023.The sample size by round and instrument type is shown below:RoundsIDIs with childrenIDIs with parentsIDIs with CMsFGDsKIIs1st Round (12/2022 – 01/2023)3026-06-2nd Round ( 04/2023 – 05/2023)3023-06053rd Round (11/2023 – 12/2023)26250307-The files in this archive contain the qualitative data and include six types of transcripts:· 1.1 Interviews with children in case study households (IDI): 30 families in round 1, 30 in round 2, and 26 in round 3· 1.2 Interviews with parents in case study households (IDI): 26 families in round 1, 23 in round 2, and 25 in round 3· 1.3 Interviews with community mobiliser (IDI): 3 CM in round 3· 2.0 Key informant interviews (KII): 5 in round 2· 3.0 Focus group discussions (FGD): 6 in round 1, 6 in round 2, and 7 in round 3· 4.0 Community mobiliser micro-narratives (556 cases)Additionally, this repository includes a comprehensive list of all qualitative data files ("List of all qualitative data+MC.xlsx").

Forecast: Social Exclusion Gross Social Protection in the UK 2024 - 2028 Discover more data with ReportLinker!

In 2024/25 the United Kingdom spent an estimated 313 billion British pounds on welfare, compared with 297 billion pounds in the previous year.

Examines the extent to which the circumstances children grow up in affect their future life chances. The analysis investigates the relationship between childhood factors, such as parents’ education level and employment status, and educational attainment; as well as the extent to which these factors predict income poverty and material deprivation in adulthood. Analysis is presented both for the UK and a number of other EU countries.

Source agency: Office for National Statistics

Designation: Official Statistics not designated as National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: Intergenerational transmission of disadvantage in the UK & EU