Civometry

Spending on general public services: record highs and lows

The extremes of spending on general public services as published by HM Treasury, across the 23 periods held here (Year ending March 2003 to Year ending March 2025). Each record is a published figure, not a computed one, and the scope is this series — not “ever”.

Highest published

£166bnYear ending March 2023

Lowest published

£45bnYear ending March 2003

The full series

Spending on general public services: Year ending March 2003 to Year ending March 2025LabourLabourLabourLabourCoalitionCoalitionConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeLabour05010015020052010201520202025Year ending March 2003: £45bn £ billion · published 17 July 2025Year ending March 2004: £48.7bn £ billion · published 17 July 2025Year ending March 2005: £54bn £ billion · published 17 July 2025Year ending March 2006: £58bn £ billion · published 17 July 2025Year ending March 2007: £61.6bn £ billion · published 17 July 2025Year ending March 2008: £65.6bn £ billion · published 17 July 2025Year ending March 2009: £69.4bn £ billion · published 17 July 2025Year ending March 2010: £65.2bn £ billion · published 17 July 2025Year ending March 2011: £78bn £ billion · published 17 July 2025Year ending March 2012: £79.3bn £ billion · published 17 July 2025Year ending March 2013: £74.8bn £ billion · published 17 July 2025Year ending March 2014: £76.9bn £ billion · published 17 July 2025Year ending March 2015: £75.7bn £ billion · published 17 July 2025Year ending March 2016: £76.4bn £ billion · published 17 July 2025Year ending March 2017: £80.2bn £ billion · published 17 July 2025Year ending March 2018: £84.4bn £ billion · published 17 July 2025Year ending March 2019: £80.9bn £ billion · published 17 July 2025Year ending March 2020: £81.3bn £ billion · published 17 July 2025Year ending March 2021: £72bn £ billion · published 17 July 2025Year ending March 2022: £109.2bn £ billion · published 17 July 2025Year ending March 2023: £166bn £ billion · published 17 July 2025Year ending March 2024: £163.1bn £ billion · published 17 July 2025Year ending March 2025: £157.6bn £ billion · published 17 July 2025
Published valueProvisional or revisedLatestShaded bands: governments (see labels)Hover or use arrow keys to read a value

What a record here is, and is not

A record is the extreme of the periods this site holds for the current series, at each period’s newest published release. Earlier series measured under different methods are not compared against it. Money is in cash terms: a record set years ago stands against the money of its own year.