UK public sector spending index

How much do UK public bodies spend?

This index tracks the payments UK public bodies publish under transparency rules — councils under the Local Government Transparency Code and central government under HM Treasury guidance. The live headline figure at the top of this page is the total tracked to date across the covered bodies; it grows every month as more publications are ingested. It is a floor, not a ceiling: it reflects published payments only, for the bodies currently covered.

Which UK public bodies spend the most?

By tracked spend, central government departments dominate — the Department for Education is the single largest in this dataset, followed by other major Whitehall departments. The biggest-spenders table on this page is generated live and links through to each body’s full spend profile. Local authorities spend less individually but publish far more granular, frequent payment data.

Where does this spending data come from?

From the public bodies themselves. UK councils and government departments are legally required to publish their payments to suppliers, and PSIP ingests those official publications under the Open Government Licence, normalises the inconsistent formats and matches suppliers against the Companies House register. Every figure traces back to a source publication — nothing is estimated or modelled.

Why do the most recent months look lower?

Transparency data is published in arrears — a payment made this month may not appear in an official file for several weeks or months. To avoid showing a misleading “drop”, the monthly trend on this page ends at the last month for which the data is substantially complete and excludes the most recent, still-filling months.

Can I look at one specific buyer?

Yes. The free Buyer Spend Lookup lets you pick any covered council or department and see its total spend, its largest suppliers and how many of its contracts are expiring. The full supplier list, incumbent payment histories and spend trends are inside PSIP.