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

In 2023/24, 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.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Social and Welfare Statistics (previously Social Expenditure Database) available via the UK Data Service includes the following databases:

The OECD Social Expenditure Database (SOCX) has been developed in order to serve a growing need for indicators of social policy. It includes reliable and internationally comparable statistics on public and mandatory and voluntary private social expenditure at programme level. SOCX provides a unique tool for monitoring trends in aggregate social expenditure and analysing changes in its composition. The main social policy areas are as follows: old age, survivors, incapacity-related benefits, health, family, active labour market programmes, unemployment, housing, and other social policy areas.

The Income Distribution database contains comparable data on the distribution of household income, providing both a point of reference for judging the performance of any country and an opportunity to assess the role of common drivers as well as drivers that are country-specific. They also allow governments to draw on the experience of different countries in order to learn "what works best" in narrowing income disparities and poverty. But achieving comparability in this field is also difficult, as national practices differ widely in terms of concepts, measures, and statistical sources.

The Child Wellbeing dataset compare 21 policy-focussed measures of child well-being in six areas, chosen to cover the major aspects of children’s lives: material well being; housing and environment; education; health and safety; risk behaviours; and quality of school life.

The Better Life Index: There is more to life than the cold numbers of GDP and economic statistics. This Index allows you to compare well-being across countries, based on 11 topics the OECD has identified as essential, in the areas of material living conditions and quality of life.

The Social Expenditure data were first provided by the UK Data Service in March 2004.

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.

In the 3 years to March 2021, white British families were the most likely to receive a type of state support.

Government spending in the United Kingdom was last recorded at 44.4 percent of GDP in 2024 . This dataset provides the latest reported value for - United Kingdom Government Spending to GDP - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

In 2021, wages and salaries accounted for more than half of employee benefits expenses of Facebook UK Limited. Annual spending on staff wages and salaries amounted to 693 million British pounds, ahead of social welfare costs of 165 million GBP.

Shrinking state spending in the UK has been accompanied by a profound restructuring of the welfare system, leading to financial insecurity for many people, culminating in extreme stress and serious deterioration of physical and mental health. Theory surrounding the impact of welfare advice on stress is lacking; this paper undertakes an in depth exploration of the experiences of stress among welfare advice seekers, considering these in light of existing substantive theories of stress and coping to generate new insight. A thematic analysis explored the experiences of stress in welfare advice seekers. Four overarching themes and twelve subthemes emerged. They are further understood utilising traditional theories of stress (Transactional Model of Stress and Coping and the Conservation of Resources theory), which then underpin the development of a ‘Stress Support Matrix’ and a holistic theory related specifically to welfare, stress and coping.

This statistic shows the forecasted United Kingdom government spending on pension credit from fiscal year 2017/18 to fiscal year 2023/24. The cost of this welfare benefit is expected to decrease year on year until 2023/24, at which point spending is expected to be *** billion pounds.

This dataset contains data about two ISEWs for the EU27, its individual Member States (MS), the UK and the US. Following Van der Slycken and Bleys (2023) (1), two variants of the ISEW are presented in this dataset: the ISEW_BCE accounts for the benefits and costs of the present and pasts activities experienced in the present and within a specific country (Benefits and Costs Experienced); the ISEW_BCPA accounts for the benefits and costs of present activities experienced in the present and in the future, both domestically and internationally (Benefits and Costs of Present economic Activities).

This document contains different datasets. Two datasets contain a summary of the values of the ISEWs and their components in ‘per capita’ terms. One summary presents the results for the EU27 (and MS) and the other one presents the results for the UK and the US (Non-EU countries). Additionally, each component is presented in some details in different pages, allowing to see the value of the different subcomponents included in each component (and even the value of some items with subcomponents for some components).

The period covered by this dataset is 1995-2020.

All the components are described in the accompanying table and in the report.

(1) Van der Slycken, J. and Bleys, B. (2023). Towards ISEW and GPI 2.0: Dealing with Cross-Time and Cross-Boundary Issues in a Case Study for Belgium. Social Indicators Research, 168(1):557-583.

List of themes and subthemes.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Northern Ireland Family Expenditure Survey (NIFES) was conducted in Northern Ireland from 1967-1998, and was the counterpart to the Family Expenditure Survey (FES), which was conducted annually in Great Britain from 1957-2001 (see under GN 33057). The FES/NIFES provided reliable data on expenditure and income in relation to household characteristics. The results of the survey show how expenditure patterns of different kinds of households vary, and the extent to which individual members of a household contribute to the household income. Although originally commissioned to provide expenditure details for the calculation of weights for the Retail Price Index, the FES/NIFES collected much additional information was also collected on the characteristics of co-operating households and the incomes of their members. It thus became a multi-purpose survey, and provided a unique fund of important economic and social data.

From 1968 the Great Britain FES incorporated a sample drawn from the NIFES to become the UK FES. The FES was replaced in 2001 by a new survey series, the Expenditure and Food Survey (EFS) (see under GN 33334), covering the whole of the UK. The EFS is an amalgamation of the previous National Food Survey (NFS) (see under GN 33071) and UK FES.


Main Topics:
Household Schedule:
This schedule was taken at the main interview. Information for most of the questions was obtained from the head of household or housewife, but certain questions of a more individual character were put to every spender aged 15 or over (or 16 or over from 1973 onwards). Until the introduction of the community charge, information on rateable value and rate poundage was obtained from the appropriate local authority, as was information on whether the address was within a smokeless zone. Information was collected about the household, the sex and age of each member, and also details about the type and size of the household accommodation. The main part of the questionnaire related to expenditure both of a household and individual nature, but the questions were mainly confined to expenses of a recurring nature, e.g.:

• Household: housing costs, payment to Gas and Electricity Boards and companies, telephone charges, licences and television rental
• Individual: motor vehicles, season tickets for transport, life and accident insurances, payments through a bank, instalments, refund of expenses by employer, expenditure claimed by self-employed persons as business expenses for tax purposes, welfare foods, education grants and fees

Income Schedule:
Data were collected for each household spender. Apart from page 1, the schedule was concerned with income, National Insurance contributions and income tax. Income of a child not classed as a spender was obtained from one or other of his parents and entered on the parent's questionnaire. Information collected included: employment status and recent absences from work, earnings of an employee, self-employed earnings, National Insurance contributions, pensions and other regular allowances, occasional benefits - social security benefits and other types, investment income, miscellaneous earnings of a 'once-only' character, tax paid directly to Inland Revenue or refunded, income of a child.

Diary Records
Each diary covered fourteen days. Each household member aged 15 or over (or 16 or over from 1973 onwards) was asked to record all expenditure made during the 14 days.

The NIFES was identical to the UK FES and therefore used the same questionnaires and documentation. However, starting in 1988, a voluntary question on religious denomination was asked of those aged 16 and over in Northern Ireland.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Family Expenditure Survey (FES), which closed in 2001, was a continuous survey with an annual sample of around 10,000 households. They provided information on household and personal incomes, certain payments that recurred regularly (e.g. rent, gas and electricity bills, telephone accounts, insurances, season tickets and hire purchase payments), and maintained a detailed expenditure record for 14 consecutive days.

The original purpose of the FES was to provide information on spending patterns for the United Kingdom Retail Price Index (RPI). The survey was a cost-efficient way of collecting a variety of related data that the government departments required to correlate with income and expenditure at the household, tax unit and person levels. The annual FES began in 1957 (with an earlier large scale survey conducted in 1953/54) and was one of the first Department of Employment (DE) systems to be computerised in the early 1960s. The UKDA holds FES data from 1961-2001. The Northern Ireland Family Expenditure Survey (NIFES), which ran from 1967-1998, was identical to the UK FES and therefore used the same questionnaires and documentation. However, starting in 1988, a voluntary question on religious denomination was asked of those aged 16 and over in Northern Ireland. The UKDA holds NIFES data from 1968-1998, under GN 33240.

Significant FES developments over time include:

• 1968: the survey was extended to include a sample drawn from the Northern Ireland FES and a new computer system was introduced which was used until 1985
• 1986: DE and the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (OPCS) converted the FES into a new database system using the SIR package
• 1989: the Central Statistical Office (CSO) took over responsibility for the survey
• 1994: in April, computerised personal interviewing was introduced using lap-top computers, the database system changed to INGRES and the survey changed from a calendar year to financial year basis
• 1996: in April, OPCS and CSO were amalgamated into the Office for National Statistics (ONS), who assumed responsibility for the FES
• 1998: from April onwards information from expenditure diaries kept by children aged 7 to 15 was included in data, and grossing factors were made available on the database

From 2001, the both the FES and the National Food Survey (NFS) (held at the UKDA under GN 33071) were completely replaced by a new survey, the Expenditure and Food Survey (EFS). Prior to the advent of the EFS, there had previously been considerable overlap between the FES and NFS, with both surveys asking respondents to keep a diary of expenditure. Thus, the 2000-2001 FES was the final one in the series. The design of the new EFS was based on the previous FES; further background to its development may be found in the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 Family Spending reports. From 2008, the EFS became the Living Costs and Food Survey (LCF) (see under GN 33334).


Main Topics:
Household Schedule:
This schedule was taken at the main interview. Information for most of the questions was obtained from the head of household or housewife, but certain questions of a more individual character were put to every spender aged 15 or over (or 16 or over from 1973 onwards). Until the introduction of the community charge, information on rateable value and rate poundage was obtained from the appropriate local authority, as was information on whether the address was within a smokeless zone. Information was collected about the household, the sex and age of each member, and also details about the type and size of the household accommodation. The main part of the questionnaire related to expenditure both of a household and individual nature, but the questions were mainly confined to expenses of a recurring nature, e.g.:

• Household: housing costs, payment to Gas and Electricity Boards or companies, telephone charges, licences and television rental
• Individual: motor vehicles, season tickets for transport, life and accident insurances, payments through a bank, instalments, refund of expenses by employer, expenditure claimed by self-employed persons as business expenses for tax purposes, welfare foods, education grants and fees

Income Schedule:
Data were collected for each household spender. The schedule was concerned with income, national insurance contributions and income tax. Income of a child not classed as a spender was obtained from one or other of his parents and entered on the parent's questionnaire. Information collected included: employment status and recent absences from work, earnings of an employee, self-employed earnings, National Insurance contributions, pensions and other regular allowances, occasional benefits - social security benefits and other...

Social protection spending in the United Kingdom reached 360.9 billion British pounds in 2023/24, compared with 360.9 billion pounds in the previous year.

This project entailed a programme of research which sought to examine three aspects of this policy approach. First, the political and policy rationale of the policy, explored through a discourse analysis of political speeches, reports, parliamentary documents and debate transcripts, media and press releases. A corpus of 449 texts was gathered covering the period 2002-2016. Then 21 interviews with politicians and policy makers were undertaken. Second, an exploration of the economic rationale for the policy -how much does it cost to the public purse, what would alternative policy scenarios cost, and how much are third sector organisations spending on people who are supposed to be adequately supported by the state. Data for the costing for third sector spend was assembled from the Charity Commission database. Third, 30 interviews with people who have been through the asylum system, undertaken by refugee community researchers, explored everyday life on asylum support.

Most people who are awaiting a decision on their asylum application in the UK at the time of this project were not permitted to enter the labour market. In the absence of labour market access, they were then dependent on welfare support payments. This policy was justified by politicians on the basis that welfare and work act as pull factors for economic migrants who seek to abuse the asylum system by making spurious claims. This project entailed a programme of research which sought to examine three aspects of this policy approach. First, the political and policy rationale of the policy, explored through a discourse analysis of political speeches, reports, media and press releases, and interviews with politicians and policy makers. Second, an exploration of the economic rationale for the policy -how much does it cost to the public purse, what would alternative policy scenarios cost, and how much are third sector organisations spending on people who are supposed to be adequately supported by the state. Third, interviews with people who have been through the asylum system, undertaken by refugee community researchers, which explored everyday life on asylum support. The project ran 2015-19 (incorporating one year of maternity leave for the PI 2017-18).

Supplementary files for article "Antibacterial resistance and the cost of affecting demand: The case of UK antibiotics"Consumption of broad-spectrum antibiotics is associated with rising antimicrobial resistance (AMR) levels. The use of broad-spectrum drugs, particularly of cephalosporins, quinolones, and co-amoxiclav contributes the most to the rise in AMR. We use aggregate sales data on antibiotics from the UK to estimate structural demand models and reveal drug substitution patterns. We then simulate alternative tax schemes to evaluate the effectiveness of shifting demand from broad- to narrow-spectrum drugs. Our estimates suggest that these policies can be highly effective in demand management and come at a relatively low cost regarding changes in consumer and producer surplus.© The Authors, CC BY-NC 4.0

Youth unemployment rose sharply as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent sector lockdowns in the UK and across the world with 18.5% of young people aged 15-24, unemployed across EU, 40% in Spain (European Parliament Study, 2021), and 14.9% in the UK (House of Commons Library, 2023). Although, the employment rates are showing some recovery, research shows that youth unemployment has delayed long-term negative impacts on future well-being, health and job satisfaction of individuals. It increases young people’s chances of being unemployed in later years and carry a wage penalty (Bell and Blanchflower, 2011). Young people (15-24 year olds) are also more likely to work part time, often not out of choice (Pay Rise Campaign 2015), are at higher risk of ‘in-work poverty’ (Hick and Lanau 2018), more likely to be employed in low-paid and insecure jobs (across OECD countries). In the UK, labour market disadvantage is coupled with the rising cost of higher education and crucially the tightening of social security conditionality through Welfare Reform (since 2012) which could be linked to a drop in eligible young people claiming welfare support (Wells 2018). A vast body of literature has emerged in the West on youth policies and the nature of welfare state (Esping-Andersen 1990; Taylor-Gooby 2004; Wallace and Bendit 2009; Pierson 2011). It, however, remains silent on the crucial question of devolution. This ESRC funded research examines the impact of devolution on welfare provision and the sub-state welfare regimes in the UK in the focused context of youth unemployment. The project is progressing in three phases (Wave 1: 2020-21 / Wave 2: 2022-23). Wave1 identified, categorised and compared scales and types of civil society involvement in youth unemployment policy between the three devolved nations of the UK: England, Scotland and Wales. In doing so examined the implications of these differences for both youth unemployment provision and devolved policy arrangements. It has provided an internationally salient analysis located in the global phenomenon of state reconfiguration, the emergence of sub-state welfare regimes and the adoption of welfare pluralism. The research found that devolved social policy in Scotland and, to a lesser extent, Wales goes some way to mitigating the work first policy approach emanating from Westminster. Crucial to this are the key points of convergence and contention between devolved (education) and non-devolved (welfare) areas of youth employment policy on the ground (Pearce and Lagana 2023). The way in which these key points of policy tension play-out in key institutional areas like Jobcentre Plus, is the focus of the second phase of project. Wave 2 focused on ground level sites of service delivery (2022-2023). Research shows that the policy structures and the perceptions of frontline staff about the policy provisions and people claiming them, shape the nature, attitudes and processes of service delivery, and have implications for service claimants and unemployment addressal (Cagliesi and Hawkes 2015; Fletcher 2011; Fletcher and Redman 2022; Rosenthal and Peccei 2006). This phase of project was a more in-depth, critical and comparative examination of the way policy plays out on the ground through a systematic investigation of the perspectives of frontline staff interacting with the young people, in the specific context of devolution. We interviewed frontline staff in England, Scotland and Wales to study how policy is perceived and translated on ground level at the sites of service delivery in these three devolved nations from the following five categories: 1). Work Coaches (Jobcentre Plus- All ages) 2). Youth Employability Coaches (Jobcentre Plus- Young People) 3). Additional Work Coaches (Youth Hubs) 4). Careers Wales / Fair Start / National Careers Service Advisers 5). Civil Society job advisers (CWVYS/Skills Development Scotland /Youth Employment UK) This research will continue to take advantage of the UK’s unique, asymmetrical devolved arrangements to address the identified gap in research examining youth (un)employment under devolved systems of governance. The broader aim is to critique the notion of 'one UK welfare state' and, in doing so, progress our understanding of the impact of decentralisation, devolution and territorial rescaling on welfare state formation across Western Europe.

The statistical significance associated with the standard deviation indicates whether preferences are heterogeneous among the sampled farmers.

Percentage (number) of farmers to report that they ‘currently use’, ‘used in the past’ and ‘never used’ each aggression control strategy when regrouping unfamiliar growing/ finishing pigs on their farm.