The monthly public sector finances for February 2023 released on Tuesday 21 March 2023 reported a provisional deficit for the month of £17bn, which is a return to red after a surplus of £8bn last month in January 2023. 

The deficit was £10bn more than the £7bn deficit reported for the same month last year (February 2022), as higher interest costs, higher inflation on index-linked debt, and the cost of the energy price guarantee for households and businesses incurred during the month drove up the need to borrow. 

The cumulative deficit for the first 11 months of the financial year was £132bn, which is £15bn more than in the same period last year but £155bn lower than in 2020/21 during the first stages of the pandemic. It was £78bn more than the deficit of £54bn reported for the first 11 months of 2019/20, the most recent pre-pandemic pre-cost-of-living-crisis comparative period. 

The reported deficit does not reflect backdated public sector pay settlements that have been or are expected to be agreed in March 2023, although the numbers are broadly in line with the £152bn estimated deficit for the full year in the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)’s revised forecasts made at the time of the Spring Budget. This was lower than their previous forecast of £177bn in November, primarily because the energy price guarantee is costing less than anticipated.

Public sector net debt was £2,507bn or 99.2% of GDP at the end of February 2023. This is £692bn higher than net debt of £1,815bn on 31 March 2020, reflecting the huge sums borrowed since the start of the pandemic. The OBR’s latest forecast is for net debt to reach £2,546bn by March 2023 and to exceed £2.9trn by March 2028.

Tax and other receipts in the 11 months to 28 February 2023 amounted to £924bn, £91bn or 11% higher than a year previously. Higher income tax and national insurance receipts were driven by rising wages and the higher rate of national insurance for part of the year, while VAT receipts benefited from inflation in retail prices.

Expenditure excluding interest and investment for the 11 months of £888bn was £52bn or 6% higher than the same period in 2021/22, with Spending Review planned increases in spending, the effect of inflation, and the cost of energy support schemes partially offset by the furlough programmes and other pandemic spending in the comparative period not being repeated this year.

Interest charges of £120bn for the 11 months were £51bn or 73% higher than the £69bn reported for the equivalent period in 2021/22, through a combination of higher interest rates and higher inflation driving up the cost of RPI-linked debt. 

Cumulative net public sector investment to February was £48bn, £4bn more than this time last year. This is much less than might be expected given the Spending Review 2021 pencilled in significant increases in capital expenditure budgets in the current year.

The increase in net debt of £125bn since the start of the financial year comprised borrowing to fund the deficit for the 11 months of £132bn, less £7bn in net cash inflows from repayments of deferred taxes, and loans made to businesses during the pandemic, less funding for student, business and other loans together with working capital requirements.

Alison Ring OBE FCA, Public Sector and Taxation Director for ICAEW, said: “The public finances are back in the red this month as a deficit of £17bn brings the total for the 11 months to February to £132bn, with public sector net debt in excess of £2.5trn. Although broadly in line with the OBR’s improved estimate accompanying the Spring Budget, the numbers don’t reflect the cost of backdated public sector pay settlements to be recorded in the final month of the 2022/23 financial year.

“The chancellor still needs to top up departmental budgets for pay awards in the next financial year, reducing his capacity to address inflationary cost pressures in other areas. HS2 may not be the only capital programme at risk of being scaled back or delayed as he seeks to make savings.”

Public sector finances: trends

Source: ONS, ‘Public sector finances, February 2023’.

Caution is needed with respect to the numbers published by the ONS, which are expected to be repeatedly revised as estimates are refined and gaps in the underlying data are filled.

The ONS made several revisions to prior period fiscal numbers to reflect revisions to estimates. These had the effect of reducing the reported fiscal deficit for the 10 months ended 31 January 2023 by £1bn to £116bn.

• For further information, read the public sector finances release for February 2023.