In 2006 UK pensions spending was about £88 billion, with old age pensions at £62 billion and sickness and disability at £26 billion. In the early 2010s pensions spending increased strongly, reaching £153 billion in 2016.

Pensions spending moderated in the late 2010s but then exploded in the aftermath of COVID. For the year ending March 2025 pensions spending was £215.9 billion.

In terms of GDP, pensions spending was about 6 percent of GDP in 2006, but then increased to 8.1 percent GDP in 2013, before settling back to 6.8 percent GDP in 2023. For the year ending March 2025 pensions spending was 7.5 percent GDP.

UK Pensions Since World War II

Chart S.43t: UK Pensions Since 1947

After World War II pensions spending was about 2 percent of GDP and, beginning in the mid 1950s started a rapid growth, hitting 3 percent of GDP in 1061 and 4 percent GDP in 1973.

Pensions spending peaked at 5 percent GDP in 1983, and then declined to 4.2 percent GDP in 1990 before jumping to over 5 percent GDP in 1993. Pensions spending then increased rapidly to 7 percent GDP in 2003. After a brief retreat to 6.7 percent GDP in 2007 pensions spending reached up to 8.2 pecent GDP in 2013.

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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".