Public finances

Pensions cost £155bn in 2025-26, more than all of education (£126bn)

What public spending on services went on, by function and sub-function, UK. Box area is proportional to spending. Cash terms, not adjusted for inflation.

Latest figures

Notes

• Functions and sub-functions follow the UN Classification of the Functions of Government (COFOG). Health uses HM Treasury's own breakdown, because COFOG detail is not available for England and Wales.
• Social care is recorded by the Treasury as "personal social services" and is split across sickness and disability, old age, families and children, and other.
• Debt transactions include payments relating to the Bank of England's Asset Purchase Facility, and interest on unfunded public sector pensions.
• Central government spending on academies is recorded as secondary education, including some primary academies.
• Foreign economic aid here is not the same as the UK's official development assistance (ODA) figure, which uses a different definition.
• EU transactions (a small net figure in recent years) are not shown.

Sources

• HM Treasury, Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses (PESA), Table 5.2

More on public finances

• A salary of £32,100 pays £5,468 in income tax and National Insurance in 2026-27
• A full-time worker on typical pay of £39,863 paid 19.2% of it in income tax and National Insurance in 2025-26
• Debt interest cost 8.8p for every £1 the government raised in 2025-26
• Income tax made up 26.7p of every £1 the public sector raised in 2025-26
• The top 1% of income tax payers paid 27.2% of all income tax in 2023-24
• The government spent 44.5% of GDP and raised 40.1% in 2025-26
• Social protection and health were the largest areas of public spending in 2025-26
• Public sector net debt was 93.3% of GDP in 2025-26
• Spending on debt interest rose by £79bn after inflation between 2020-21 and 2025-26, more than any other area