UK Spending Review 2025: live updates
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is setting out details of the UK government’s spending plans for the years ahead. Follow along live to the announcements here, and please refresh to see the latest updates
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Read GGF’s Spending Review report in full:
UK Spending Review sets out how government will make reform of the state happen
Here are the key points from the Spending Review
Departmental budgets across the UK government for day‑to‑day spending until 2028‑29, and until 2029‑30 for capital investment. Total departmental budgets growing by 2.3% across the period, with increases frontloaded for the early years.
The government sets out three priorities for “rewiring the state”. These are:
- using new technology to digitise services and transform how government operates;
- creating a cost-conscious culture that relentlessly roots out waste, drives efficiency, and protects taxpayers’ money; and
- establishing a leaner, higher-skilled civil service that is closer to the communities it serves.
The Spending Review confirms the allocation of the previously-announced £3.25bn Transformation Fund, which will focus on digital transformation; prevention; and productivity and efficiency.
The Spending Review allocates £2bn for artificial intelligence with the aim of harnessing the transformative potential of AI in line with the government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan. This will include scaling the most promising opportunities for AI adoption in the public sector and the NHS.
Spending Review allocates £1.9bn – a £1.2bn increase – in the funding for Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to drive forward cross-cutting digital priorities through Government Digital Service.
The Treasury said that these cross-cutting priorities would include renewed digital public infrastructure for both the public and for government, including the launch of the GOV.UK Wallet and a GOV.UK App.
The review also pledges to build strong digital and technology foundations, tackle urgent cybersecurity and technical resilience risks, modernise public service delivery and drive a major overhaul in government productivity and efficiency. Some of these have £s against them, but not all do, at a glance.
£800m for shared services across HR commercial and finance processes, and data. There will also be £20m to update government’s finance operating model, and will be linked to new planning and performance framework, to be published in the Budget later the Autumn.
All government departments have identified at least 5% savings and efficiencies by 2028-29. Departments have pledged to reduce their administration budgets by at least 16% in real terms by 2029‑30.
Departments have been assisted in setting these efficiency programmes by the Office for Value for Money.
The OfVM has also undertaken value for money studies into what the Treasury described as “two high-risk areas of cross-departmental spending”. These are: governance and budgeting arrangements for mega projects, and procurement of short-term residential accommodation. Summaries will be published shortly.
Government publish the first-ever civil service strategic workforce plan later this year. Review also recommits the government to having one in ten civil servants working in digital roles by 2030.
The government has also allocated £50m from the Transformation Fund to increase civil service workforce productivity. Focus on improving civil service learning and development, and reduce dependency on costly external training provision.
Elsewhere in the SR, there will be a £1.2bn increase in departmental expenditure at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to drive forward cross-cutting digital priorities, across government. The total fund allocated in the SR will be £1.9bn.
The Spending Review confirms the allocation of the previously-announced £3.25bn Transformation Fund, which will focus on digital transformation; prevention; and productivity and efficiency.
The Spending Review will also allocate £2bn for artificial intelligence with the aim of harnessing the transformative potential of AI both in government and across society, in line with the AI Opportunities Action Plan.
Digging into the details of the review now. The government sets out three priorities for “rewiring the state”. These are:
- using new technology to digitise services and transform how government operates;
- creating a cost-conscious culture that relentlessly roots out waste, drives efficiency, and protects taxpayers’ money; and
- establishing a leaner, higher-skilled civil service that is closer to the communities it serves.
Reeves is now concluding. Says this is a Spending Review focused on the needs of British people.
I have made my choices. In place of chaos, I choose stability. In place of decline, I choose investments. In place of pessimism, division and defeatism, I choose national renewal.
Reeves is now setting out spending plans for the NHS. Reeves says she is investing £10bn to bring the NHS into the digital age, as well as doubling the NHS technology budget.
Reeves is providing £550m over the Spending Review period for the social care system, so children do not go into care if that is not needed.
Reeves says that this Spending Review is a zero-based review, which has found savings – selling government buildings and land, cutting office cost and reducing spending on consultants.
“I will be relentless in cutting out waste,” says Reeves.
Reeves says she has accepted the recommendations of public sector pay boards to give public service workers the pay rise they deserve. These cover many of the UK’s public servants, but not most civil servants. Only the most senior are covered by a pay review body.
Police spending power increasing by 2.3% in real terms, Reeves says.
Reeves is now talking about support for local economic growth, and announces a new growth missionfund to ensure regeneration projects are not held in “bureaucratic limbo”. 350 places will get funding.
Reeves has announced the conclusisons of a review into the Treasury Green Book, which is the guidnece for cost benefit analysis for projects. She says the review will allow place-based business plans, and will mean that no community will have “Treasury guidence used against it”.
Reeves is setting out details of the £15bn in transport investments that the goverment made last week. These are a array of projects to improve and upgrade buses, trams and local train infrastructure.
Reeves is now moving onto housing. She says she is announcing the launch of an affordable homes programme, investing £39bn in the next decade, and an additonal £10bn for finaniccial investments.
Reeves is also providing money for training – up to £1.2bn a year by the end of the Spending Review.
Reeves is now annoucning £2bn to back the govenrment’s AI plan. We’ll dig into what this will mean once we have all the documents.
Reeves is now setting out the steps for Britian to create a full fleet of small modular nuclear power plants. She also announced suoport for nuclear fusion and carbon capture and storage, and also annoucned yesterday that the government would go ahead with Sizewell C plant.
Reeves is announcing additional funding for border security, and says the govenrment is tackling the asylum backlog. The government will end the use of hotels for asylum seekers, she says, by quicking court decisions.
The world is changing before our eyes, says Reeves. The signs of our age of insecuirty everywhere. This is why the governemnt has prioritised defence spending. The UK’s defence review last week announced investments and pledged to ‘accelerate innovation to a wartime pace’. We will make Britian a defence insutrial superpower, says Reeves.
Reeves says that she has allocated £190bn more for public services in this review, compared to the plans of the previous government.
Reeves says total departmental budgets will grow by 2.3% a year in real terms – though it is likely that there will be winners and losers in here. We know the NHS and defence and likely to get more funding.
Reeves says that the government has removed barriers to growth, and says “we are starting to see the results” with cuts to interest rates and increases in wages.
Reeves is speaking now. Says her driving mission is make the people of the UK better off.
Hello and welcome to Global Government Forum’s coverage of the UK government’s Spending Review. We will hear from Rachel Reeves today the spending allocations for the years ahead, as the government looks to boost growth and meet its missions.
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