Latest figures detail UK Government’s record funding of £18 billion a year for the Welsh Government

15 Dec 2021 12:02 PM

Treasury figures published today show breakdown of the record £18 billion per year settlement for the Welsh Government.

• Welsh Government receives £120 of Barnett-based funding for every £100 per person of equivalent UK Government spending in England.
• Figures reaffirm UK Government’s commitment to levelling up across the whole of the UK.

Figures released today by the Treasury set out how the UK Government will provide a record level of funding to the Welsh Government over the next three years – worth £18 billion a year. The Block Grant Transparency publication provides a detailed breakdown of the funding settlements announced for the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland at Spending Review 2021. The £18 billion annual funding settlement is the largest, in real terms, since devolution more than 20 years ago. It ensures that the Welsh Government are well-funded to improve public services such as education, housing, health and social care, and will support the UK Government’s mission to level up the UK and build back better and greener from the pandemic. In addition to Block Grant Funding, the UK Government is also making direct investments in Wales such as committing over £120 million through the Levelling Up Fund and the Community Ownership Fund, which will help to improve local infrastructure, regenerate town centres, and could even help to buy your local pub or community sports club. Wales will also benefit from cuts to Air Passenger Duty to improve connectivity and support jobs at Welsh airports.

UK Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Simon Clarke said:

We are committed to ensuring Wales receives its fair share, and the latest Spending Review has provided a record £18 billion a year to the Welsh Government.

This funding will help level up the UK and ensure from Pembroke to Pontypridd people can have pride in their communities.

Secretary of State for Wales, Simon Hart said:

This is a fantastic settlement for Wales and I’m delighted that it is delivering significant investment directly to people, businesses and communities across the country.

The devolved administration in Wales has received its largest-ever settlement, enabling it to deliver services including health, education and flood protection, which are vital to the people of Wales.

Levelling up communities across the UK is top of our agenda. Investing more than £120m in 10 projects including the regeneration of Aberystwyth seafront and improving transport links in Rhondda shows how we will achieve this ambition across Wales.

This all adds up to an excellent package for Wales and its economy.

At Budget 2017, the Treasury committed to publish an annual Block Grant Transparency publication after each UK Government Budget to show a breakdown of changes to the devolved administrations’ block grant funding.

This report is intended to support greater transparency and accessibility to the people of Wales as to how the UK Government provides funding to the Welsh Government.

Further information

• The fifth edition of the Block Grant Transparency provides information for the years covered by the 2015 Spending Review, Spending Round 2019, Spending Review 2020 and Spending Review 2021. The previous release was in June 2021.
• The publication sets out a detailed breakdown of the devolved administrations’ block grant funding and is intended to increase transparency of the block grant calculation process. This includes how much the devolved administrations receive through the Barnett formula and other UK Government funding such as for City and Growth Deals and support for farmers. It also sets how the block grants are adjusted in relation to tax and welfare devolution but does not include details of devolved administration tax revenues nor how they choose to spend their funding.
• The Barnett formula determines changes to the block grant funding in relation to changes in UK Government departmental spending. The formula essentially provides the same pounds-per-person change in funding in each nation of the UK. It is applied when departmental budgets change at Spending Reviews, fiscal events and Main/Supplementary Estimates.
• Further information on how the devolved administrations are funded can be found in the Statement of Funding Policy 2021.