OBR · Historical official forecasts database

Spending forecasts, £ billion

Year ending March 2025 Final

£1.29tnbillion

Spending forecasts, £ billion was £1.29tn in the year ending March 2025, up 5.0% (£61bn) from £1.23tn in the year ending March 2024.

▲ 5.0% · +£61bn against Year ending March 2024 (previous period)

  1. OBR count
  2. Year ending March 2025
  3. published 26 March 2026
  4. £TME
  5. row “Outturn data*
  6. column “2024-25
  7. cell value 1291.7859999999998

Year ending March 2025 is the highest figure in the published series: £1.29tn. Rule: highest of the 36 periods published here (Year ending March 1990 to Year ending March 2025).

Year ending March 1990 to Year ending March 2025

Spending forecasts, £ billion: Year ending March 1990 to Year ending March 2025ConservativeConservativeLabourLabourLabourLabourLabourLabourCoalitionCoalitionConservativeConservativeConservativeLabour05001k1990200020102020Year ending March 1990: £218.6bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1991: £237.5bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1992: £263.2bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1993: £283bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1994: £295.8bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1995: £308.3bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1996: £322.6bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1997: £328.2bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1998: £344.2bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 1999: £354.8bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2000: £367.1bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2001: £390.1bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2002: £418bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2003: £452.8bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2004: £494.4bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2005: £534.9bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2006: £565.1bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2007: £592.4bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2008: £629.2bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2009: £685.8bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2010: £720.3bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2011: £743bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2012: £745.5bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2013: £759.1bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2014: £764.6bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2015: £786.1bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2016: £793.7bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2017: £811.4bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2018: £838.7bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2019: £856bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2020: £884.9bn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2021: £1.1tn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2022: £1.04tn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2023: £1.16tn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2024: £1.23tn £ billion · published 26 March 2026Year ending March 2025: £1.29tn £ billion · published 26 March 2026

Published valueProvisional or revisedLatestShaded bands: governments (see labels)Hover or use arrow keys to read a value

What this measures

Total managed expenditure in cash terms: the outturn as the OBR last knew it, with every official forecast for the same year.

What this doesn’t measure

Spending on any single service, or spending in real terms.

Important caveat

Each forecast vintage uses the definitions and classifications in force when it was made, so the outturn the OBR shows beside it may differ from today's ONS series after later classification changes and revisions. The outturn row is the figure as the OBR knew it at its most recent forecast, not the latest ONS estimate. Forecasts before June 2010 were produced by HM Treasury, not the OBR. Fiscal series are financial years; economy series are calendar years. A forecast is a statement of uncertainty made at the time and is stored as an estimate; a miss is not evidence of misconduct.

Revision history

No period of this series has been revised since it was first ingested here. Revisions are recorded automatically when a later release publishes a different figure for the same period.

Source

Publisher
OBR
Publication
Historical official forecasts database
Release
Historical official forecasts database, March 2026, published 26 March 2026
Source file
obr-historical-forecasts-2026-03.xlsx
File SHA-256
e00b17cb7ec8dfddc4bfd4d212c1e93362147fff81d74a10480e599b26e634db
Retrieved
3 September 2026
Sheet
£TME
Table
£TME
Row
Outturn data*
Column
2024-25
Cell value
1291.7859999999998
Geography
United Kingdom
Unit
£ billion
API
/api/metrics/obr_forecast_tme · /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.

Conservative 2019–2024£856bnYear ending March 2019£1.23tnYear ending March 2024 43.8%
Conservative 2017–2019£811.4bnYear ending March 2017£856bnYear ending March 2019 5.5%
Conservative 2015–2017£786.1bnYear ending March 2015£811.4bnYear ending March 2017 3.2%
Coalition 2010–2015£720.3bnYear ending March 2010£786.1bnYear ending March 2015 9.1%
Labour 2005–2010£534.9bnYear ending March 2005£720.3bnYear ending March 2010 34.7%
Labour 2001–2005£390.1bnYear ending March 2001£534.9bnYear ending March 2005 37.1%
Labour 1997–2001£328.2bnYear ending March 1997£390.1bnYear ending March 2001 18.9%
Conservative 1992–1997£263.2bnYear ending March 1992£328.2bnYear ending March 1997 24.7%

Full comparison with chart

Release
Historical official forecasts database, March 2026 · publication page
Last updated
26 March 2026
Next release expected
Not yet announced (estimated from the usual cadence)