In this section: About the data
What’s on this site
Last updated . Figures refresh every night. How each figure is worked out.
This site shows where the money you pay goes: the tax in your bills, every UK tax and what it raises, your council's bill and report card, every MP's office costs, and the fines the state collects. Every figure is dated and linked to the body that published it. The quickest ways in are search (press / on any page), your postcode, and the A to Z.
Key figures
How do I find a page?
- Search. The box at the top of every page, or press /. It knows everyday words: “electricity bill”, “road tax”, “bins”, “potholes”.
- Your postcode. One box takes you to everything local: your council's bill and report card, parking, roads, your MP, and who runs police, fire and health.
- Browse. Every council, every MP, every tax, the council map, and the archive.
- The A to Z lists every page, and can be narrowed to one type.
What does each section cover?
- Your bills Fuel, energy, council tax and the fees the state charges: what you pay and how much of it is tax. 20 pages
- Your area Enter a postcode: your council's bill and report card, parking, roads, your MP, and who runs police, fire and health locally. 7 pages, and one for each council or MP
- Every tax Every UK tax, what it raises and how it works, and the stealth taxes. 28 pages
- Public finances Where tax goes, the welfare bill in both directions, the tax that isn’t collected, and what is coming: announced changes, the next Budget and the long-term pressures. 11 pages
- Public services What the money buys: the NHS, police, fire, ambulance, the armed forces and search and rescue, from the UK total down to your local force, fire service and health body. 28 pages, and one for each council or MP
- Hold them to account MPs' costs, major projects, fraud and write-offs, and the fines the state collects. 11 pages, and one for each council or MP
- About the data How every figure is worked out, the data to download, corrections, and every page on the site. 11 pages, and one for each council or MP
What does it not cover yet?
Water bills, which are paid to water companies rather than to government. Public spending is covered service by service under Public services, from where the £ goes and the whole of government down to your local police force, health body, schools and roads; where a figure is not published, the page for that service says so.
How is it put together?
Figures refresh every night from the bodies that publish them. How each figure is worked out, the data to download, every correction and the neutrality policy are in About the data.