In 2024/25 the government of the United Kingdom had an expenditure of almost 1.29 trillion British pounds, compared with 1.23 trillion in the previous financial year. Between 2010/11 and 2019/20, the UK's government spending increased at a relatively stable pace before a sudden spike in spending in the 2020s. After spending just under 889 billion pounds in 2019/20, government spending surpassed 1.1 trillion the following year, due to the high level of public spending that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. Main outlays of the UK government The government is expected to spend approximately 379 billion British pounds on social protection in the 2025/26 financial year, followed by 277 billion on health, and 146 billion on education. As a share of GDP, social protection spending has consistently been the government's main outlay for several decades. Health spending has, however, become far more prominent. In the late 1970s, the government spent more on education, and defence than it did on health, with health spending increasing from 3.9 percent in 1978/79, to 8.4 percent by 2024/25. Defence spending in particular was cut significantly after the end of the Cold War, although geopolitical instability is forcing the government to rethink these cuts. Spending cuts politically dangerous for Labour Since coming to power in July 2024, the current Labour government has seen its popularity plummet drastically, with approval ratings similar to the unpopular Conservative government it replaced. Part of the reason for this have been Labour's attempts to reform aspects of the UK's welfare system. Shortly after winning the last election, Labour announced cuts to winter fuel payments for pensioners, a policy they paid dearly for in political capital and one that was reversed by June 2025. An attempt to push through further reforms was effectively defeated the following month, leaving the government in a tricky fiscal situation for the next budget.

UK government spending is expected to rise to 1.35 trillion pounds in 2025/26, compared with 1.28 trillion in 2024/25.

In 2024/25, the UK government spent approximately 13.3 percent of GDP on social protection, compared with 8.4 percent for health, and 4.1 percent for education. These three spending areas have accounted for the highest share of government spending since the late 1980s. Defence spending as a share of GDP has, by contrast, fallen throughout this period, from a high of 4.6 percent in 1984/85, to just 1.8 percent in the mid-2010s. Main sources of revenue During this same time period, income tax has been the most important source of revenue for the government, accounting for almost ten percent of GDP in the 2022/23 financial year. The UK's main tax levied on sales, Value Added Tax (VAT), was equivalent to 7.4 percent of GDP that year, with National Insurance Contributions at around seven percent of GDP. Taxes raised from businesses via Corporation Tax were the fourth-major source of tax revenue that year, at approximately 3.1 percent of GDP. Debt and borrowing Due to several years of the government spending more than it earns, the government has had to borrow large amounts to finance its commitments. This was especially the case at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when, due to depressed revenues and increased expenditure, the government borrowed more than 314 billion pounds. This increased the national debt from 1.8 trillion pounds, to around 2.15 trillion pounds, or almost 97 percent of GDP.

Research and development and related expenditure by UK government departments and devolved administrations

The government of the United Kingdom is expected to spend approximately **** billion British pounds on Universal Credit in 2024/25, compared with just under ** billion pounds in the previous financial year.

UK government revenue is expected to rise to 1.23 trillion pounds in 2025/26, up from 1.13 trillion in 2024/25.

This graph shows the breakdown of public expenditure (including capital spend by public corporations) on updating and maintaining public transport links in the United Kingdom from 2015 to 2019. Spending on railways accounted for more than half of overall public sector transport expenditure.

Spending on public transport in the United Kingdom reached 4.7 billion British pounds in 2024/25. During the provided time period, spending on public transport was at its highest in 2020/21, when the government spent 7.2 billion pounds on local public transport.

In the 2024/25 financial year, the UK government spent approximately 9.7 billion pounds on research and development in economic affairs, compared with 2.82 billion on education, and 2.81 billion in defence.

The ratio of government expenditure to GDP in the United Kingdom was 44.04 percent in 2024. Between 1980 and 2024, the ratio rose by five percentage points, though the increase followed an uneven trajectory rather than a consistent upward trend. The ratio is forecast to decline by 1.25 percentage points from 2024 to 2030, fluctuating as it trends downward.Shown here is the general government expenditure as a share of the national gross domestic product. As defined by the International Monetary Fund, the general government expenditure consists of total expense and the net acquisition of nonfinancial assets. The gross domestic product represents the total value of final goods and services produced during a year.

Data on the total regional local government expenditure on services per capita in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2019/2020 shows that by **********, the local government of London had the highest identifiable expenditure on services per capita amounting to ***** British pounds per person.