Delivering for Scotland

25 Jun 2025 01:35 PM

More than £52 billion in spending last year has funded the delivery of vital public services for the people of Scotland.

The Scottish Government’s 2024-25 Provisional Outturn, which compares actual spending with overall funding, included:

• Investing more than £19.5 billion in health and social care, protecting existing critical delivery in the face of unprecedented fiscal pressure and enabling frontline services to continue to evolve to deliver the best care and treatment for our diverse population.

• Supporting fair and affordable pay deals for workers who provide our essential public services.

• Investing more than £5.9 billion for 2024-25 in social security, directly supporting more than 1.4 million people across Scotland. This includes £456 million allocated to the Child Payment. As of 31 March 2025, 326,225 children aged 15 and under were actively benefiting from Scottish Child Payment.

• Supporting economic growth despite global uncertainty. Scotland’s economy grew 1.2% in 2024, compared to 1.1% in the UK as a whole, having strengthened from 0.5% growth in 2023.

The remaining £557 million of available funding – representing 1% of the total Scottish Government budget – has been carried over to support costs in 2025-26, with no loss of spending power to the Scottish Government.

Public Finance Minister Ivan McKee said:

“The provisional outturn demonstrates once again this Government is prudently and competently managing Scotland’s finances while protecting our priorities and ensuring we can deliver effective public services.

“Managing the financial position for 2024-25 was a challenge once again. The continued impact of inflation, pressure on public sector pay, and wider geopolitical instability meant careful consideration had to be given to balancing the Scottish Budget.

“What’s more, under the UK Spending Review the Scottish Government’s day-to-day spending is set to grow by 0.8% over the next three years, considerably lower than the 1.2% average growth for UK Government departments. 

“The impact of these challenges on our financial planning will be set out in the Medium-Term Financial Strategy tomorrow in Parliament, but the growing future year pressures mean we must act prudently and responsibly to remain fiscally sustainable.”

Background

2024-25 Provisional Outturn Briefing Note 24 June 2025 - gov.scot

The Provisional Outturn for 2024-25 is £52.1 billion.

The Provisional Outturn figures will be finalised later in the year once the Scottish Government and other devolved public bodies complete their year-end audits.

The figures also show a £738 million non-cash underspend. The non-cash element of the Scottish Budget is ringfenced for use in technical accounting adjustments, and it is therefore not possible for the Scottish Government to use it for day-to-day spending. A large proportion, about £900 million, of this budget relates to non-cash consequentials for student loan impairments which are not required at the same level in Scotland because of the policy of free university tuition.