Spending Review 2025 - A quick summary

The review sets the day-to-day budgets of government departments over the next three years, used to pay staff and deliver public services.

GM VCFSE Leadership Group members and CEO of We Are Survivors, Duncan Craig, has written a helpful summary of what we know:

• £29 billion funding boost to NHS
• New investment includes up to £10 billion on technology and digital transformation, GP training to deliver millions more appointments and rolling out mental health support to all schools.
• £11 billion ‘real terms increase’ in defence spending
• £15 billion for nuclear warhead
• £7 billion of infrastructure renewal of military accommodation
• £6 billion for munitions
• £280m a year invested into border security by 2028-29
• £400m a year by 2028-29 to speed up the process of asylum processing
• Police spending power up 2.3% to put an additional 13,000 police officers, PCSOs and special constables into neighbourhood roles
• £15.6 billion funding in total by 2031-32 for local transport projects in England’s city regions
• £2.3 billion from 2026-27 to 2029-30 for local transport improvements outside of these nine regions
• A further £2.5 billion to connect Oxford and Cambridge through the continued delivery of East-West Rail and confirmed she will set out plans to take forward work on Northern Powerhouse Rail in the coming weeks.
• Upgrades to Cardiff Central station
• Reduce journey times between Manchester and Leeds through continued investment in the TransPennine Route Upgrade
• Progress the delivery of Midlands Rail Hub, enhancing connections from Birmingham across the West Midlands and to other regions.
• £39 billion of investment over ten years through a new Affordable Homes Programme, turbocharging the Plan for Change commitment to get the country building and deliver the 1.5 million homes Britain needs.
• £14.2bn for Britain’s first state-funded nuclear power station since 1988 in Sizewell C, providing over £2.5bn for one of Europe’s first Small Modular Reactor programmes and allocating £9.4bn to UK carbon capture and storage over the Spending Review period
• Additional funding for up to 350 communities, especially those in deprived areas, through Plans for Neighbourhoods
• The Government will also establish a Growth Mission Fund to expedite local projects that are important for growth but have been forgotten, such as Southport Pier, Kirkcaldy’s seafront and High Street, and a new sports quarter in Peterborough.
• The Charity Commission is set to receive an £8m bump to its annual budget next year.

The Spending Review and the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) sector

There is nothing in the spending review to broadly support the VCFSE during a time of significant financial pressures as continue to face a 'triple threat': rising costs, falling income and increasing demand. NCVO has said that the Chancellor’s Spending Review “falls short of delivering the stability charities need to support communities through tough times”.

Read more of NCVO's reflections on what the review means for charities: www.ncvo.org.uk/news-and-insights/news-index/spending-review-2025