Accredited official statistics

Country and regional analysis: November 2021

Published 24 November 2021

0.1 Data summary 2020-21

	UK identifiable expenditure
England	£745 billion
Scotland	£81 billion
Wales	£45 billion
Northern Ireland	£29 billion
Total	£900 billion

The Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has affected the statistics in the Country and Regional Analysis. We therefore recommend caution when comparing data across this time period. In 2020-21 UK identifiable spend (i.e. spending that can be identified as having been for the benefit of a particular area of the UK) rose sharply to just under £899.9 billion from £663.3 billion the year before, mainly as a result of the response to the Coronavirus outbreak. On a per head basis ^{[footnote 1]} total UK expenditure increased by more than £3,400 between 2019-20 and 2020-21, compared to an increase of £350 the year before. This has had a significant effect on the breakdown of expenditure across the country. Northern Ireland saw the highest level of spending per head at £15,357 and England the lowest at £13,166. The share of identifiable spending taken by England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has remained broadly unchanged in recent years, but England shows a small increase in 2020-21 partly as a result of Covid-19 related expenditure.

Spend per head (£)
England	£13,166
Scotland	£14,842
Wales	£14,222
Northern Ireland	£15,537
UK average	£13,414

The profile of spending by country is influenced by the Barnett Formula. This is designed to provide the devolved administrations with a population share of any increases in comparable spending by UK departments.

0.2 Regional Statistics

In 2020-21 English regions showed a similar percentage of identifiable expenditure as in 2019-20. London accounted for £139 billion of total identifiable spend, the highest in England at 15% of the total. This was followed by the South East at 12% and the North West at 11% (Table A.1a).

UK identifiable expenditure, 2020-21 (£billions)

UK identifiable expenditure (£billions)
North East	£36.1
North West	£100.6
Yorkshire and the Humber	£69.8
East Midlands	£58.9
West Midlands	£76.6
East	£78.3
London	£139.5
South East	£113.4
South West	£71.3

0.3 Spend per head

Spend in London has historically been higher compared to other English regions partly due to the fact that for many functions it is more expensive to provide services in the capital, due to higher staff and infrastructure costs. In addition, London has historically had high capital expenditure, as it includes spend by Transport for London (TfL). Part of this spend will also benefit commuters who live outside London but who use TfL services while commuting. The lowest total spend per head was in the East Midlands and then the South East, at £12,113 and £12,302 per head respectively (Table A.1b). Expenditure in the South East has risen over recent years to overtake the East Midlands. This was in part due to significant increases in capital spending on trading services by a small number of councils and investment by Highways England^{[footnote 2]}, ^{[footnote 3]}. Looking at current spending only, i.e. recurring spend on providing public services, such as wages and salaries and benefits (Table A.3b), the lowest spend per head was in the South East at £10,959, followed by the East Midlands at £11,076. The English region with the highest current spend per head was London at £13,448.

Spend per head, 2020-21

Spend per head (£)
North East	£13,480
North West	£13,658
Yorkshire and the Humber	£12,637
East Midlands	£12,113
West Midlands	£12,841
East	£12,482
London	£15,490
South East	£12,302
South West	£12,607
England (average)	£13,166
Scotland	£14,842
Wales	£14,222
Northern Ireland	£15,357
UK (average)	£13,414

^{1. Data in this chart is taken from table A.1b of the main release.}

Increased expenditure in response to the Coronavirus outbreak has affected several functional categories, most noticeably enterprise and economic development (Table A.8a), transport (A.8e) and health (Table A.11). There were some regional differences in the levels of this expenditure. London, for example, saw a higher per head share of increased spend on transport, due to its large bus and Underground networks. Similarly, London and South East England saw higher per head spend from business loans, due to the higher concentration of businesses in those regions^{[footnote 4]}. Expenditure on social protection, particularly Universal Credit, has also seen significant regional disparities, with London, the South East and East of England seeing the highest growth and the North East the smallest^{[footnote 5]}.

1. About this release

• This release presents analyses of public expenditure by country, region and function. Data in this release are National Statistics for all years.

• Users should note that the Country and Regional Analysis is a purely statistical exercise and plays no part in resource allocation or the operation of the Barnett Formula. The regional analyses and judgments about statistical methodology presented in this release do not constitute statements of government policy.

• Most public spending is planned to benefit categories of individuals and enterprises irrespective of location. The regional analyses presented in this release show where the individuals and enterprises that benefited from public spending were located. It does not mean that all such spending was planned to benefit a particular region, because only a minority of public spending is planned on a regional basis.

2. National Statistics

In January 2013 the United Kingdom Statistics Authority (UKSA) 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; and

• 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. In May 2019 the UKSA published an assessment report on the Country and Regional analysis in order to reaffirm its national statistics designation. The assessment and resulting outcomes and/or requirements are still ongoing. For more information please see the ‘Work programme’ section in the CRA guidance and information document accompanying this release.

3. New in this release

Public spending undertaken in response to the Coronavirus outbreak in 2020 is included in this release, but not all of it can be separately identified from the CRA data. Additional expenditure by the NHS on PPE, for example, will be reflected in the higher spending on health in table A.11, but it is not possible to say from the underlying CRA data how much of that increase was in response to the Coronavirus. The expenditure that can be identified in the underlying CRA data covers the following:

• HMRC expenditure on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and the Eat Out to Help Out (EOHO) scheme. This is shown as a single aggregate.

• Expenditure by BEIS on the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS), the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS), the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), Covid business support grants and the Vaccines Taskforce.

Together this totals over £123.7 billion. The methodology used to assign the spend to England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English regions is set out in full in the separate methodology note, but is consistent with breakdowns already published by HMRC and the British Business Bank^{[footnote 6]}. The Office for Budget Responsibility’s October 2021 Economic and Fiscal Outlook estimated the cumulative cost of the Government’s pandemic-related support measures as being £315 billion, of which £229 billion related to 2020-21. Departments’ individual Annual Reports and Accounts include analysis of COVID-19 related expenditure, alongside a summary of the impact of the pandemic on departmental activities and outcomes. Further information on measures announced by the government in response to the Coronavirus pandemic, how much has been spent, and how it is treated in the National Accounts may also be found in publications by the National Audit Office and the Office for National Statistics^{[footnote 7]}.

3.1 Table A.3b Total current and capital identifiable expenditure, per head 2016-17 to 2020-21

3.2 Maps based on Table A.16: UK identifiable expenditure by function, per head, indexed, 2020-21

The images below contain maps based on table A.16. For reference, each map has been labelled with the lowest and highest index value and also provides the figure for the total UK spend per head based on data from table A.15. More information about maps and index figures is available in the guidance and information document published alongside this release.

3.3 Data in this release

All data in this release are available and accessible online on the Country and Regional Analysis publication page. All data tables are still available in excel format, where separate excel files are published for the A tables, the B tables, the interactive tables and the CRA database.

Most of the tables in this release provide an analysis of spending for the period 2016-17 to 2020-21. The information used to produce the A and B tables was gathered in a separate data collection exercise during the summer of 2021 and was consistent with the Public Spending Statistics (PSS) July 2021 dataset. In addition, further revisions to departmental and local authority outturn have also been taken on. Information on revisions, data tables and methodology can be found in the guidance and information document accompanying this release.

Total Expenditure on Services (TES) in the CRA will not match the TES figures in the November 2021 PSS publication. As stated above, the CRA dataset is based on data used in the July 2021 PSS publication.

3.4 Key revisions in this release

Revisions to total expenditure on services (TES) since PSS: July 2021

Departments have taken the opportunity, wherever possible, to correct or update their outturn data since the publication of the July 2021 PSS to bring them into line with their published Annual Reports and Accounts. In addition, updated figures for local government expenditure have also been incorporated into this release. Figures for local government expenditure in 2020-21 are now provisional for England and Scotland and final for Wales.

Changes to Total Managed Expenditure (TME) and public sector debt interest in all years are due to updated ONS data. Note that figures in this release are consistent with the ONS public sector finances (PSF) publication for September 2021.

3.5 Annex: Population numbers and GDP deflators

Population numbers by country and region (thousands)

Region	mid-2016	mid-2017	mid-2018	mid-2019	mid-2020
North East	2,637	2,645	2,658	2,670	2,681
North West	7,224	7,259	7,292	7,341	7,367
Yorkshire and The Humber	5,425	5,450	5,480	5,503	5,526
East Midlands	4,725	4,772	4,804	4,836	4,866
West Midlands	5,811	5,861	5,901	5,934	5,962
East	6,129	6,168	6,201	6,236	6,269
London	8,770	8,825	8,908	8,962	9,002
South East	9,030	9,081	9,134	9,180	9,217
South West	5,517	5,559	5,600	5,625	5,659
England	55,268	55,619	55,977	56,287	56,550
Scotland	5,405	5,425	5,438	5,463	5,466
Wales	3,113	3,125	3,139	3,153	3,170
Northern Ireland	1,862	1,871	1,882	1,894	1,896
UK	65,648	66,040	66,436	66,797	67,081

Mid-Year Population Estimates from the ONS for the Countries of the UK and the English Regions (2011 Population Census based). Web link: mid-2016 to mid-2020

3.6 GDP deflators and money GDP

Outturn data are based on the 30 September 2021 National Accounts figures from ONS

Financial year	GDP deflator at market prices (2020-21 = 100)	% per cent change on previous year	Money GDP (£millions)
2016-17	88.278	2.24	2,039,801
2017-18	89.798	1.72	2,111,738
2018-19	91.551	1.95	2,199,704
2019-20	93.748	2.40	2,261,177
2020-21	100.000	6.67	2,146,343

^{GDP Deflator: Financial years 2016-17 to 2020-21 taken from ONS series L8GG in Table N.}

^{Cash GDP: For years 2016-17 to 2020-21: ONS data for money GDP (not seasonally adjusted series BKTL) in Table N.}

1. Per head figures calculated using the latest mid-year population estimates from the ONS. ↩

2. Local Authority Capital Expenditure and Receipts, England: 2018-19 ↩

3. Local Authority Capital Expenditure and Receipts, England: 2017-18 ↩

4. UK business; activity, size and location - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) ↩

5. Universal Credit statistics, 29 April 2013 to 8 April 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) ↩

6. HMRC coronavirus (COVID-19) statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk); Press Release - July 6, 2021 - British Business Bank (british-business-bank.co.uk) ↩

7. COVID-19 cost tracker - National Audit Office (NAO); Recent and upcoming changes to public sector finance statistics - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) ↩