In 2006 UK education spending was less than £70 billion, and education spending was increasing steadily, year on year, reaching £91.5 billion in 2011. In the rest of the 2010s the education budget remained steady at about £85 billion per year. Since COVID, education spending has increased significantly. For the year ending March 2025 education spending was £118.7 billion.

In terms of Gross Domestic Product UK education spending was 4.7 percent of GDP in 2006, increased as a percent of GDP till the peak year of 2010 when education spending was 5.7 percent of GDP. In the 2010s education spending declined, descending to 4 percent GDP in 2020. For the year ending March 2025 education spending was 4.1 percent GDP.

UK Education Since World War II

Chart S.23t: UK Education since 1947

After World War II UK education spending increased rapidly, peaking at 4 percent of GDP in 1949 before being sharply reduced to 3.3 percent GDP in 1951.

Starting in 1956 education spending began a long increase, reaching 5.35 percent GDP in 1968. It then resumed a slower growth, reaching 5.6 percent of GDP in 1973 before blowing off at 6.5 percent GDP in 1975 in the inflation of the 1970s.

Starting in 1976, at 6.1 percent GDP education began a secular decline through 15 years that bottomed out in 1989 at 4.2 percent of GDP. Education spending then rose to 4.9 percent GDP in 1995 before declining to 4.4 percent GDP in 2000.

In the 2000s education spending increased as a percent of GDP, peaking at 5.8 percent GDP. After the Great Recession education spending has declined to 4 percent GDP in 2020.

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Spending Data Sources

Expenditure data since 1983 comes from HM Treasury’s Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis reports.

Detailed table of spending data sources here.

Gross Domestic Product data comes from measuringworth.com.

Central government spending data begins in 1692.

Local authority spending data begins in 1868.

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Data Sources for 2016_2026:

Sources for 2016:

GDP: OBR EFO supp. economy tables
Spending: HM Treasury PESA
Debt: OBR Public Finances Databank

Sources for 2026:

GDP: OBR EFO supp. economy tables
Spending: HM Treasury PESA
Debt: OBR Public Finances Databank

> spending data sources for other years

UK Revenue and Deficit Forecast -- March 2026

On March 11, 2026 we updated UK revenue forecast data for 2025-26 to 2030-31 from the Office of Budget Responsibility's March 2025 Economic and fiscal outlook report in a zip file labeled "March 2026 Economic and fiscal outlook - charts and tables (zip file)" and a spreadsheet file named "efo-march-2026-charts-and-tables-annex-tables.xlsx" and Table A.5: Current Receipts in tab "TA.5".

**UK Government Revenue Forecast**
2025-26 Forecast	March 2025 £ billion	March 2026 £ billion
Central Government	£1,157.6	£1,071.1
Local Authorities	£71.4	£67.9
Total UK Revenue	£1,229.0	£1,139.0

On March 11, 2026 we updated UK deficit forecast data for 2025-2065 to 2030-31 from the Office of Budget Responsibility's March 2026 Economic and fiscal outlook report Table 6.5 Components of Net Borrowing in tab "6.5" in a zip file labeled "March 2026 Economic and fiscal outlook - detailed forecast tables: aggregates" and a spreadsheet file named "efo-march-2026-detailed-forecast-tables-aggregates.xlsx".