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CSJ Says UK Spent £1.1 Trillion More on Welfare Than Infrastructure
The think tank said working-age benefits totaled £1.6 trillion and now take 5% of GDP, more than double infrastructure spending.
- On Tuesday, the Centre for Social Justice reported the UK spent £1.6 trillion on working-age benefits between 2006/7 and 2024/25, far outpacing public investment in transport, science, technology, and housing.
- The report, titled "State of Dependency," found spending proportions reversed since 1979, with Britain now directing 5% of GDP toward working-age benefits versus 2.5% for infrastructure investment.
- Welfare has acted as an "anaesthetic that has kept areas of the country numbed during two decades of economic failure," the CSJ said, with Britain spending £1.1 trillion more on benefits than infrastructure, impacting the North, Midlands, and South Wales.
- Chancellor John Healey faces pressure from opposition parties to reduce benefit spending in the October 28 Budget, while Prime Minister Andy Burnham ruled out "crude cuts" to benefits, favoring employment support instead.
- The Government plans to publish a 10-year infrastructure strategy, increasing public investment by £120 billion while investing £3.5 billion in employment support to move people from welfare into work.
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The government spent Pound329.1 billion on social benefits during fiscal year 2025-26, which is equivalent to 10.7% of GDP and a quarter of total public expenditure. It far exceeds the totals for the National Health Service, education and defence.
·Las Condes, Chile
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Britain spent £1.1trillion more on benefits than on transport and housing, damning report finds
Britain spent £1.1trillion more on benefits than on transport and housing, damning report finds . Britain spent £1.1trillion more on working-age benefits than on transport, housing, technology and other public investment over the past two decades
·London, United Kingdom
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The Independent (US)
The Independent (US)UK spent £1.1 trillion more on benefits than transport, homes and technology
The Centre for Social Justice said welfare had acted as an ‘anaesthetic that has kept areas of the country numbed during two decades of economic failure’
·London, United Kingdom
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Total News Sources10
Leaning Left2Leaning Right3Center3Last UpdatedBias Distribution38% Center, 37% Right
Bias Distribution
- 38% of the sources are Center, 37% of the sources lean Right
38% Center
L 25%
C 38%
R 37%
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