How much should the UK be spending to support its youngest generations?

Alma Economics was commissioned by a coalition of five of the UK’s leading children’s charities (Action for Children, Barnardo’s, the National Children’s Bureau, the NSPCC and The Children’s Society) to research public spending on babies, children, and young people in the UK. We sought to determine relevant spending levels as a percentage of the country’s GDP, and how this compares to other OECD countries.

We first conducted a review of UK and international literature on different methods of measuring spending on children. After deciding on our approach, we collated publicly available data on each of the key areas of expenditure – namely welfare, education, social care, and health.

Our analysis suggests that UK total spending on babies, children, and young people amounted to £191.1 billion or 8.57% of UK GDP in 2022-23. This is significantly less than the proportion of GDP spent by leading OECD counterparts.

By looking at spending in other OECD countries, we then explored benchmarks in different policy areas to suggest targets for UK spending. Our results indicate that the UK falls below the selected benchmarks in each policy area as well as in total.

Finally, we offered indicative evidence on the fiscal and social returns to spending on children in health, education, social care, and welfare.

This research informed a joint report published today by the charities calling for the next UK Government to put babies, children and young people at the heart of policymaking backed by a step-change in investment.

➥ The joint report, as well as the report produced Alma Economics, are both available here.