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HM Treasury · Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2026, chapter 4: expenditure by function

Spending on social protection

Year ending March 2026 Final

£407.3bnbillion

Spending on social protection was £407.3bn in the year ending March 2026, up 5.4% (£21bn) from £386.3bn in the year ending March 2025.

▲ 5.4% · +£21bn against Year ending March 2025 (previous period)

  1. HM Treasury count
  2. Year ending March 2026
  3. published 2 September 2026
  4. Table 4.2
  5. row “10. Social protection”
  6. column “2025-26”
  7. cell value 407.3

Year ending March 2026 is the highest figure in the published series: £407.3bn. Rule: highest of the 24 periods published here (Year ending March 2003 to Year ending March 2026).

Year ending March 2003 to Year ending March 2026

Spending on social protection: Year ending March 2003 to Year ending March 2026LabourLabourLabourLabourCoalitionCoalitionConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeLabour020040020052010201520202025Year ending March 2003: £145.3bn £ billion · published 17 July 2025Year ending March 2004: £155.6bn £ billion · published 2 September 2026Year ending March 2005: £164.1bn £ billion · published 2 September 2026Year ending March 2006: £171bn £ billion · published 2 September 2026Year ending March 2007: £177bn £ billion · published 2 September 2026Year ending March 2008: £188.6bn £ billion · published 2 September 2026Year ending March 2009: £203.4bn £ billion · published 2 September 2026Year ending March 2010: £223bn £ billion · published 2 September 2026Year ending March 2011: £230.4bn £ billion · published 2 September 2026Year ending March 2012: £244.8bn £ billion · published 2 September 2026Year ending March 2013: £253.4bn £ billion · published 2 September 2026Year ending March 2014: £254.2bn £ billion · published 2 September 2026Year ending March 2015: £261.1bn £ billion · published 2 September 2026Year ending March 2016: £264.9bn £ billion · published 2 September 2026Year ending March 2017: £265.4bn £ billion · published 2 September 2026Year ending March 2018: £268.7bn £ billion · published 2 September 2026Year ending March 2019: £274.8bn £ billion · published 2 September 2026Year ending March 2020: £275.8bn £ billion · published 2 September 2026Year ending March 2021: £299.3bn £ billion · published 2 September 2026Year ending March 2022: £300.3bn £ billion (revised) · published 2 September 2026Year ending March 2023: £322.2bn £ billion (revised) · published 2 September 2026Year ending March 2024: £365.2bn £ billion (revised) · published 2 September 2026Year ending March 2025: £386.3bn £ billion (revised) · published 2 September 2026Year ending March 2026: £407.3bn £ billion · published 2 September 2026
Published valueProvisional or revisedLatestShaded bands: governments (see labels)Hover or use arrow keys to read a value

What this measures

Public sector spending on pensions, benefits, social care and other social protection across the UK, in cash terms.

What this doesn’t measure

Spending on any single benefit; DWP's own tables carry that.

Important caveat

PESA classifies spending by function using the UN COFOG framework, so "health" is every public body's spending on health services, not the Department of Health's budget, and "defence" follows COFOG rather than the NATO definition. Figures are outturn for the whole public sector including local government and public corporations. Cash figures rise with inflation; the real-terms table restates them at 2024-25 prices with the GDP deflator. Classification changes are footnoted in the table: student loans from 2011-12, Network Rail from 2011-12 and the treatment of EU transactions after 2020. Total managed expenditure includes accounting adjustments that are not allocated to any function.

Revision history

PeriodFirst publishedCurrentRevisionReleases
Year ending March 2025£383.9bn£386.3bn+£2.4bn (+0.6%)17 July 2025 → 2 September 2026
Year ending March 2024£364.7bn£365.2bn+£500m (+0.1%)17 July 2025 → 2 September 2026
Year ending March 2023£322bn£322.2bn+£200m (+0.1%)17 July 2025 → 2 September 2026
Year ending March 2022£300bn£300.3bn+£300m (+0.1%)17 July 2025 → 2 September 2026

Source

Publisher
HM Treasury
Publication
Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2026, chapter 4: expenditure by function
Release
2026-09-02, published 2 September 2026
Source file
PESA_2026_CP_Chapter_4_tables.xlsx
File SHA-256
50ae80d95c4e542c34a17dfa8bc302858ca6508b6753e27bb31920cec9bb75c4
Retrieved
4 September 2026
Sheet
4_2
Table
Table 4.2
Row
10. Social protection
Column
2025-26
Cell value
407.3
Geography
United Kingdom
Unit
£ billion
API
/api/metrics/spend_social_protection · /series · /vintages

Related metrics

Government periods

Change during each government, from the level inherited to the last complete period before it left office. Describes the period; does not attribute cause.

Labour 2024–£365.2bnYear ending March 2024£407.3bnYear ending March 2026↑ 11.5%
Conservative 2019–2024£274.8bnYear ending March 2019£365.2bnYear ending March 2024↑ 32.9%
Conservative 2017–2019£265.4bnYear ending March 2017£274.8bnYear ending March 2019↑ 3.5%
Conservative 2015–2017£261.1bnYear ending March 2015£265.4bnYear ending March 2017↑ 1.6%
Coalition 2010–2015£223bnYear ending March 2010£261.1bnYear ending March 2015↑ 17.1%
Labour 2005–2010£164.1bnYear ending March 2005£223bnYear ending March 2010↑ 35.9%

Full comparison with chart

Release
2026-09-02 · publication page
Last updated
2 September 2026
Next release expected
Not yet announced (estimated from the usual cadence)