# For every £100 of tax url: https://whereyourmoneygoes.co.uk/for-every-100-pounds-of-tax/ updated: 29 September 2026 licence: Our words, analysis, charts and derived calculations: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), credit [Tekstak Ltd](https://tek-stak.co.uk). Figures: each source's own licence, listed under Sources. publisher: [Tekstak Ltd](https://tek-stak.co.uk) # For every £100 of tax Last updated 29 September 2026. Figures refresh every night. [How each figure is worked out](/methodology/). Out of every **£100** of UK public spending in 2025-26, **£33.20** went on social protection, including the state pension, **£21.00** on health and **£10.60** on debt interest. The shares are of the £1227.6bn spent on services; total managed expenditure was £1360.1bn, the other £132.5bn being accounting adjustments PESA does not assign to any function. Figures are HM Treasury's Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses. This is spending, not an allocation of any particular tax: almost no UK tax is earmarked. ## Key figures - £33.20Of every £100 spent goes on social protection, including the state pension ▲ 2025–26 - £21.00Of every £100 spent goes on health ▲ 2025–26 - £10.60Of every £100 spent goes on debt interest ▼ 2025–26 - £1,227.6bnSpent on services, the total the shares divide ▲ 2025–26 - £1,360.1bnTotal managed expenditure Includes £132.5bn of accounting adjustments 2025–26 ## Where does every £100 go? **What every £100 of public spending buys, 2025-26** **The numbers behind this chart** | What it is spent on | Per £100 | Share | Total | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Social protection, including the state pensionDetails | £33.20 | 33.2% | £407.3bn | | Share33.2%Total£407.3bn | | | | | HealthDetails | £21.00 | 21% | £257.5bn | | Share21%Total£257.5bn | | | | | Debt interestDetails | £10.60 | 10.6% | £130.3bn | | Share10.6%Total£130.3bn | | | | | EducationDetails | £10.20 | 10.2% | £125.7bn | | Share10.2%Total£125.7bn | | | | | Economic affairs, including transportDetails | £7.70 | 7.7% | £94.0bn | | Share7.7%Total£94.0bn | | | | | DefenceDetails | £5.30 | 5.3% | £65.4bn | | Share5.3%Total£65.4bn | | | | | Public order and safetyDetails | £4.50 | 4.5% | £55.7bn | | Share4.5%Total£55.7bn | | | | | General public servicesDetails | £2.90 | 2.9% | £35.2bn | | Share2.9%Total£35.2bn | | | | | Housing and communityDetails | £1.80 | 1.8% | £22.5bn | | Share1.8%Total£22.5bn | | | | | EnvironmentDetails | £1.60 | 1.6% | £19.2bn | | Share1.6%Total£19.2bn | | | | | Culture, media and sportDetails | £1.20 | 1.2% | £15.1bn | | Share1.2%Total£15.1bn | | | | | Spending on services: the total of the rows aboveDetails | £100.00 | 100% | £1227.6bn | | Share100%Total£1227.6bn | | | | | Accounting adjustments, not assigned to any functionDetails | — | — | £132.5bn | | Share—Total£132.5bn | | | | | Total managed expenditureDetails | — | — | £1360.1bn | | Share—Total£1360.1bn | | | | ### What does this mean for you? Put in roughly what you pay in tax in a year to see it divided in the same proportions as public spending. Tax you pay in a year £ Split like all public spending, £10,000 would be **£3,320** on social protection and the state pension, **£2,100** on health, **£1,060** on debt interest, £1,020 on education and £530 on defence. Shares of spending on services in 2025–26, from HM Treasury's Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses. An illustration of proportion only: no tax is allocated to a service, and the government spends more than it raises. ## How has it changed? **How the split has changed** **The numbers behind this chart** | Year | Health | Social protection | Education | Defence | Debt interest | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2003-04Details | 16.6% | 34.5% | 13.5% | 6.4% | 7.2% | | Social protection34.5%Education13.5%Defence6.4%Debt interest7.2% | | | | | | | 2006-07Details | 17.6% | 32.9% | 13.6% | 6.0% | 7.9% | | Social protection32.9%Education13.6%Defence6.0%Debt interest7.9% | | | | | | | 2009-10Details | 17.9% | 34.1% | 13.5% | 5.8% | 6.8% | | Social protection34.1%Education13.5%Defence5.8%Debt interest6.8% | | | | | | | 2012-13Details | 18.4% | 37.6% | 12.5% | 5.4% | 8.3% | | Social protection37.6%Education12.5%Defence5.4%Debt interest8.3% | | | | | | | 2015-16Details | 19.5% | 37.2% | 11.9% | 5.1% | 7.7% | | Social protection37.2%Education11.9%Defence5.1%Debt interest7.7% | | | | | | | 2018-19Details | 20.0% | 35.9% | 11.5% | 5.3% | 7.4% | | Social protection35.9%Education11.5%Defence5.3%Debt interest7.4% | | | | | | | 2021-22Details | 22.7% | 31.5% | 10.5% | 5.1% | 7.6% | | Social protection31.5%Education10.5%Defence5.1%Debt interest7.6% | | | | | | | 2024-25Details | 20.8% | 33.1% | 10.5% | 5.5% | 10.8% | | Social protection33.1%Education10.5%Defence5.5%Debt interest10.8% | | | | | | | 2025-26Details | 21.0% | 33.2% | 10.2% | 5.3% | 10.6% | | Social protection33.2%Education10.2%Defence5.3%Debt interest10.6% | | | | | | Two things stand out over twenty years. Health has taken a steadily larger share, driven by an ageing population and the cost of treatment. And debt interest has swung sharply: it is the one line that responds to interest rates rather than to any decision about services, which is why it rose so quickly after 2021. ## What does this not show? It is not an allocation of your tax. Almost no UK tax is earmarked: income tax does not pay for the NHS, fuel duty does not pay for roads, and the money is not tracked from a particular tax to a particular service. What this page shows is the proportion in which all public money is spent. It is also spending, not tax. In most years the government spends more than it raises and borrows the difference, so these shares add to more than the tax on the [all UK taxes](/all-uk-taxes/) page. £1360.1bn Total managed expenditure in 2025–26, against £937.8bn collected by HMRC in 2025–26. Part of the gap is public income HMRC does not collect, such as council tax; the rest is borrowed. The two genuine exceptions are set out on their own pages: [National Insurance](/national-insurance/), most of which goes to the National Insurance Fund, and the [TV licence](/tv-licence/), which passes through the Consolidated Fund but is matched pound for pound by a grant to the BBC. ## Common questions Where does my tax money go? Out of every £100 of public spending, £33.20 goes on social protection, including the state pension, £21.00 on health and £10.60 on debt interest. No individual tax is allocated to a service.Does income tax pay for the NHS? No. Income tax is not earmarked. It goes into the Consolidated Fund with almost every other tax. The only UK taxes with a genuine destination are National Insurance, most of which goes to the National Insurance Fund, and the TV licence, which is matched pound for pound by a grant to the BBC. ## Use this data The figures belong to the bodies that published them and are used under their terms, listed in [Sources for this page](#sources); most are Crown copyright under the Open Government Licence. Only our own words, analysis, charts and derived calculations are ours, published under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/): reuse them, including commercially, if you credit [Tekstak Ltd](https://tek-stak.co.uk) and link back to this page. ### Embed the live figure Paste this into your page. It updates itself every night and links back here. Embed code ## Related pages - [Next in this section: Debt interest: what the public sector pays on its debt](https://whereyourmoneygoes.co.uk/debt-interest/) - [What happens when public money goes wrong?](https://whereyourmoneygoes.co.uk/when-it-goes-wrong/) - [Which is my council, and how do all the councils compare?](https://whereyourmoneygoes.co.uk/councils/) - [How much are NHS prescription and dental charges, and are they free anywhere?](https://whereyourmoneygoes.co.uk/nhs-prescription-dental-and-optical-charges/) ## More from this publisher - [UK tax calculators](https://howlongisit.co.uk) Published by [Tekstak Ltd](https://tek-stak.co.uk). Our words, analysis, charts and derived calculations: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), credit [Tekstak Ltd](https://tek-stak.co.uk). The figures belong to the publishers listed under Sources and are used under their licences. Figures last updated 29 September 2026.