Accredited official statistics

Public spending statistics: November 2021

Published 17 November 2021

1. About this release

This release presents updated Public Spending data for the years 2016-17 to 2020-21. All data in this release are National Statistics and are on an outturn basis. TME figures are consistent with data published by the ONS from October 2021. All data and further background detail can be found in the accompanying tables published alongside this release. We welcome any feedback at [email protected]

2. Total expenditure (£billions)

Expenditure	2019-20	2020-21
Total DEL expenditure	415.7	569.1
Resource departmental AME	374.9	492.9

^{Budgets are divided into Departmental Expenditure Limits (DEL), which are firm plans for three or four years, and Annually Managed Expenditure (AME), covering spending which is demand-led, less predictable and more difficult to control. In the accompanying excel tables, table 1 shows the aggregate position for all departments and all types of spending, with some of the main types of spending shown separately. Table 8 shows in detail how the budgeting data is used to construct the Total Managed Expenditure (TME) figures published by the Office for National Statistics. These are based on National Accounts concepts and are used in the aggregates which underlie the government’s fiscal policy.}

Expenditure	2019-20	2020-21
Total Managed Expenditure (TME)	883.9	1,115.2
Total expenditure on services (TES)	796.9	1,008.6

• TME was £1,115.2 billion in 2020-21, an increase of 26.2 per cent on the previous year.
• TES was £1,008.6 billion in 2020-21, an increase of 26.6 per cent on the previous year.

3. Total Departmental Expenditure Limits, 2020-21 (£millions)

^{For the full table, including years from 2016-17 onward, please refer to Table 7 in the accompany budget tables excel.}

Departmental Group	Total DEL
Health and Social Care	192,287
Education	72,981
Home Office	15,347
Justice	9,685
Law Officers’ Departments	619
Defence	42,355
Single Intelligence Account	2,848
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office	12,585
MHCLG - Housing and Communities	11,798
MHCLG - Local Government	20,907
Transport	33,439
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy	46,288
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport	3,887
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs	5,348
International Trade	527
Work and Pensions	6,944
HM Revenue and Customs	5,043
HM Treasury	323
Cabinet Office	1,763
Scotland	44,075
Wales	20,975
Northern Ireland	16,602
Small and Independent Bodies	2,460

^{In September 2021 the government announced that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) would be renamed the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). The department name MHCLG is used in these tables to align with the PESA 2021 publication.}

3.1 Budgeting Statistics (Tables 1 to 9)

• Total DEL expenditure (Resource DEL excluding depreciation plus Capital DEL) was £569.1 billion in 2020-21, an increase of £153.4 billion or 36.9 per cent on the previous year in nominal terms. The largest increases in DEL spending in nominal terms in 2020-21 were for Health and Social Care, which increased by £51.8 billion to £192.3 billion, and Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy which was up by £32.6 billion to £46.3 billion. These increases are both largely a result of expenditure related to Covid-19 measures.
• Total departmental expenditure (Total DEL plus resource and capital departmental AME) was £1,098.6 billion in 2020-21, an increase of £284.9 billion or 35.0 per cent on the previous year.
• Resource departmental AME was £492.9 billion in 2020-21, an increase from £374.9 billion in 2019-20. This is mainly reflects Covid-19 related expenditure within HM Revenue and Customs.

^{In the accompanying excel tables, tables 1 to 9 show central government departmental spending on a budgetary basis. These are the aggregates used by the government to plan and control expenditure. They cover departments’ own spending as well as support to local government and public corporations. They are consistent with “Estimates” voted by Parliament and broadly consistent with departmental Resource Accounts, which are based on commercial International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adapted for the public sector.}

4. Real terms public expenditure (£billions)

Functions	2019-20	2020-21
General public services	84.4	71.0
Defence	45.1	44.6
Public order and safety	36.8	38.6
Economic affairs	71.1	194.1
Environment protection	12.6	12.6
Housing and community amenities	15.1	13.9
Health	175.1	219.9
Recreation, culture and religion	12.7	12.8
Education	96.7	95.6
Social protection	294.2	299.6

^{In the accompanying excel tables, tables 10 to 11 present spending under the “expenditure on services” framework. This is based on National Accounts definitions and covers the whole of the public sector. It therefore has wider coverage than the budgeting framework and is also more stable over time.}

4.1 Trends in functional expenditure (Tables 10, 10a and 10b)

Compared with the previous year:

• in real terms, spending in six of the ten functions (excluding EU transactions) for 2020-21 increased whilst spending in four functions fell, compared to 2019-20.
• the largest real terms percentage increases were in economic affairs (173.0 per cent), mainly as a result of Covid related spend (see sub-functional analysis below for more detail) and in health (25.6 per cent).
• the largest real terms percentage decreases in spending were in general public services (-15.9 per cent), mainly due to lower expenditure on public sector debt interest, and in housing and community amenities (-8.3 per cent)
• spending on health shows a nominal and real terms increase in 2020-21 (34.0 per cent in nominal terms, 25.6 per cent in real terms).

^{In the accompanying excel tables, tables 10, 10a and 10b show public sector expenditure on services broken down by function over a longer number of years, allowing long-term trends to be identified. Table 11 presents data broken down by economic categories such as pay or grants.}

5. National Statistics

The United Kingdom Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as National Statistics, in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:

• meet identified user needs
• are well explained and readily accessible
• are produced according to sound methods
• are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest

Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed.

6. Spending frameworks used in HM Treasury spending publications

Budgeting	Expenditure on services (TES)
This framework provides information on central government departmental budgets, which are the aggregates used by the government to plan and control expenditure. It covers departmental own spending as well as support to local government and public corporations.	This framework is used in HM Treasury publications for statistical analysis. It is based on National Accounts definitions and covers spending by the whole of the public sector. It therefore has wider coverage than the budgeting framework and is also more stable over time.

7. Trends in public spending

7.1 Chart 1: Trends in public spending since 1997-98

• TME as a percentage of GDP, which shows the size of the public sector relative to the size of the whole economy, was 52.0 per cent in 2020-21. This is the highest in the period covered by these tables (from 1997-98), reflecting not only increased spending, but also lower GDP as the economy entered recession during the Covid-19 pandemic.

7.2 Chart 2: Real terms trends in Public Spending

^{From 2011-12 onwards the ‘grant-equivalent element of student loans’ is no longer part of the TES framework and has therefore been removed from the Education function. Therefore, figures are not directly comparable between 2010-11 and 2011-12. A full explanation of this decision can be found in PESA 2020 Annex E.}

In real terms (i.e. after adjusting for the effect of inflation):

• the largest real terms spending increase by function in 2020-21 was in economic affairs, which rose by £123.0 billion to a total of £194.1 billion (an increase of 173.0 per cent). This was largely driven by an increase in enterprise and economic development, which included HM Revenue and Customs expenditure on the Coronavirus Job Retention and Self-Employment Income Support Schemes and spend by BEIS on business support grants and business interruption loan schemes.
• health saw the second largest real terms increase in 2020-21 of £44.8 billion. This was largely driven by large increases in the purchase of goods and services, as well as an increase in staff costs.
• public order and safety saw the third largest real terms increase in 2020-21 of £5.4 billion (an increase of 4.9 per cent). This was largely due to increases in expenditure in local government, Home Office and the Ministry of Justice.

8. Revisions in this release (since the July 2021 publication)

Expenditure	Amount (£millions)	Comments
Total DEL expenditure	-£383m	Resource and Capital DEL (excluding depreciation) has been revised down in 2020-21. The decrease was largely driven by adjustments to Local Government expenditure made by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
Resource departmental AME	+284m	Driven mainly by upward revisions for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and downward revisions for MHCLG and the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Changes to Total Managed Expenditure (TME) and public sector debt interest in all years are due to updated ONS data. More information about these changes is available in the monthly ONS public sector finances (PSF) release.

9. Additional information about the PSS release

9.1 Upcoming revisions and changes in forthcoming releases

The next HM Treasury PSS National Statistics release will be published in February 2022. There are no expected changes to the spending frameworks for the next release.

9.2 PSS publication schedule for the coming year

Date	Release
Feb 2022	This release contains updates to the key Public Spending Statistics series. It includes updated data for local authorities for the previous financial year.
May 2022	Contains updates to the PSS series. May is the first publication in which full outturn data for the previous financial year is published, incorporating final data for all local authorities and devolved administrations.
July 2022	The July PSS release contains the first publication of departmental spending outturn for the 2021-22 financial year. Local authority data and much of the data from the devolved administrations are still provisional at this stage of the year. This is the main annual release.