UK spent £1.1 trillion more on welfare than infrastructure

Summarised from 3 outlets · 4 reports · Updated 12 Oct, 22:15 · Archive

Between 2006 and 2025, UK spending on working-age benefits exceeded capital investment in schools, transport and homes by £1.1 trillion, research shows.

The Centre for Social Justice released a 250-page report on Tuesday titled 'State of Dependency' showing that UK welfare spending between 2006 and 2025 exceeded capital investment in transport, housing, science and technology by £1.1 trillion. The think tank calculated that the UK spent £1.6 trillion on working-age benefits over this period.

The figures represent a reversal of post-war spending priorities. Between 1945 and 1979, the UK directed 4.5 per cent of GDP towards infrastructure and 2.5 per cent to working-age welfare. Today those proportions have flipped, with 5 per cent spent on benefits and 2.5 per cent on infrastructure investment.

The Centre for Social Justice warned that welfare had been used to 'compensate for weak local economies' rather than reverse decline. Researchers described welfare as an 'anaesthetic that has kept areas of the country numbed during two decades of economic failure'. The report found this pattern particularly damaging in regions with high worklessness across the North, Midlands and South Wales, where economic output per person has barely increased in two decades.

Ben Gregg, head of welfare at the think tank, said: 'For decades, governments have tried to compensate struggling regions for economic decline rather than reverse it, using welfare to numb the pain instead of providing a reason to hope.' He argued that prosperity required 'good jobs and thriving towns' rather than welfare payments alone.

The findings emerge as Chancellor John Healey prepares for his Budget on 28 October. Opposition parties have pressured him to reduce welfare spending, and the report adds to calls for rethinking the design of the welfare state amid competing demands for defence spending and tax cuts.

How it is being reported

• UK spent more than £1 trillion more on welfare than infrastructure in past 20 yearsThe report comes as Chancellor John Healey faces pressure to reduce welfare spending at his Budget later this monthEvening Standard · 12 Oct, 22:38
• UK spent more than £1 trillion more on welfare than infrastructure in past 20 yearsThe report comes as Chancellor John Healey faces pressure to reduce welfare spending at his Budget later this monthEvening Standard · 12 Oct, 22:01
• Revealed: Britain spent £1.1 trillion more on benefits than investment in transport, homes and technologyThe 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’The Independent · 12 Oct, 22:00
• ‘Economic anaesthetic’ of welfare spending dwarfed capital investment by £1.1 trillionSpending on benefits for working-age people dwarfed investment in key infrastructure such as schools and trains by £1.1 trillion between 2006 and 2025, new research has found. The Centre for Social Justice said that spending on disability support and other forms of welfare racked up to £1.1 trillion more than capital expenditure in the same [...]City AM · 12 Oct, 22:00

In this story: Centre for Social Justice · Ben Gregg · John Healey · North · Midlands · South Wales

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