“While spending in April was higher than expected, it is too early in the financial year to tell whether the government is on track to meet its revised budget deficit for 2025/26 of £118bn. In reality, the Chancellor may have to spend more on digitalisation and transformation this year if the government is to have any hope of delivering improved public sector productivity and efficiency over the rest of the Parliament.
“The provisional numbers for the first month of the 2025/26 financial year were boosted by the employer national insurance tax rise that came into force on 6 April 2025 together with the effect of inflation on income tax, VAT, corporation tax and employee and self-employed national insurance receipts compared with the same month last year.
“The small positive revision that reduced the reported deficit for the last financial year by £4bn to £148bn will be a relief for the Chancellor as she seeks to bring the public finances under control in a turbulent economic environment.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- Provisional receipts, current spending and net investment for the month of April 2025 were £91.6bn, £105.5bn and £6.3bn respectively, £5.6bn more, £5.3bn more and £1.4bn more than the £86.0bn, £100.3bn and £4.9bn equivalents for April 2024. The result was a current deficit for April 2025 of £13.9bn, £0.4bn less than the £14.3bn incurred for the same month a year previously and a fiscal deficit of £20.2bn, £1.0bn more than the £19.2bn for April 2024.
- The revised fiscal deficit for the 2024/25 financial year that ended on 31 March 2025 of £148bn was £4bn lower than the provisional £152bn reported last month. This was £11bn more than the OBR’s estimate of £137bn at the Spring Statement 2025 and £74bn more than the £74bn originally budgeted last March in the Spring Budget 2024.
- Public sector net debt on 31 March 2025 of £2,807bn was revised down by £7bn from last month’s provisional number of £2,814bn, and is £121bn more than 31 March 2024. This is £6bn lower than the £2,813bn estimated by the OBR at the Spring Statement 2025 and £14bn higher than the £2,793bn originally budgeted.
- The budgeted deficit for 2025/26 of £106bn set in the Autumn Budget 2024 was revised upwards to £118bn in the Spring Statement 2025.
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