Government spending on religious and other community services in the UK 2010-2026

Public sector expenditure on religious and other community services in the United Kingdom from 2010/11 to 2025/26

Government spending on religious and other community services in the United Kingdom is one of the smallest and least discussed lines in the entire public accounts, yet it offers a surprisingly revealing window into the place of religion in an increasingly secular state. In 2023/24, the UK public sector spent approximately 146 million pounds on this category, down sharply from 191 million the previous year and from around 210 million back in 2010/11. The contrast across the period captures the shift in a single line of data. Measured in tens to low hundreds of millions, rather than the billions spent on health, education, or defence, this is a niche budget line that has broadly declined over the period. Its very smallness is part of what makes it interesting, since it reveals just how little the modern British state spends directly on religion compared with countries that subsidise faith heavily. The wider religious landscape is set out in our religious population of England and Wales analysis.

The trend in this spending reflects, in part, the broader secularisation of British society and the steady pressure on discretionary public spending over the past decade and a half. While the figures are volatile from year to year, given the small base, the overall direction has been gently downward, with the 2023/24 figure of 146 million among the lowest in the series so far. The long-run signal is decline, even if individual years jump around. This stands in stark contrast to the much larger and growing sums spent on areas such as housing and community amenities, which run to over 20 billion pounds a year. The sheer gulf between the two categories illustrates just how marginal direct religious spending has become in modern Britain. The attendance decline that mirrors this is in our Church of England weekly attendance analysis.

This article traces UK public spending on religious and other community services from 2010/11 to 2025/26, examining the long-term decline, the sharp drop in 2023/24, the year-to-year volatility, and how this small category fits within the wider public finances. It also explores what the spending covers and the forces behind its decline in a country where religious affiliation and attendance have both fallen markedly. The ageing of the churchgoing population is covered in our Church of England age distribution analysis.

Spending by Year, 2010/11 to 2025/26

The table sets out the spending series from 2010/11 to 2025/26 in millions of pounds. The broad pattern is a gentle decline from around 210 million at the start of the period to the low-to-mid hundreds of millions, punctuated by year-to-year swings typical of a small budget line. Reading down the column, the gradual erosion is plain to see despite the bumps along the way. The most notable recent movements are the rise to a peak of 191 million in 2022/23 followed by the sharp fall to 146 million in 2023/24, the largest single-year swing in the recent series. These two years alone account for much of the drama in the data. The 2024/25 and 2025/26 figures shown here are estimates extending the recent observed pattern. These figures come from HM Treasury's published statistics. The broader economic backdrop is in our global economy analysis.

The Full Spending Trend, 2010/11 to 2025/26

The trend line shows a generally downward path with a notable spike near the end. From around 210 million in 2010/11, spending drifted lower through the 2010s, reaching the high 170s by the late part of the decade before edging up again towards the end. The path was bumpy but the overall slope was clearly downward. The most dramatic features are the rise to a peak of 191 million in 2022/23 and the abrupt fall to 146 million in 2023/24, a swing very characteristic of a small and inherently volatile budget line of this kind. Such a sharp reversal would be almost unthinkable in a major spending area. By 2025/26, spending is estimated to have stabilised at around 152 million, still well below the level at the start of the period in both nominal and especially real terms. The recovery from the 2023/24 low, if it can be called that, is very modest indeed. The broader population context is in our UK population analysis.

The Long-Term Decline in Spending

Viewed over the whole period, the dominant story is one of gradual decline. From around 210 million pounds in 2010/11, spending on religious and other community services fell to approximately 146 million by 2023/24, a reduction of roughly 30% in nominal terms over thirteen years, and considerably more once inflation is taken into account. Few areas of public spending have contracted so much in proportional terms over this period. This decline broadly tracks the era of public spending restraint that followed the financial crisis, during which many smaller and more discretionary budget lines were squeezed, as well as the longer-term secularisation of British society. Both forces pulled in the same direction, reinforcing the downward drift.

The roughly 30% nominal fall understates the real decline, because inflation has substantially eroded the value of the pound over the period. Adjusted for inflation, the real-terms cut in spending on religious and other community services is far steeper, probably closer to half its 2010/11 value in today's money. The headline nominal figures therefore flatter what has actually been a substantial real squeeze. This makes the category one of the more sharply reduced areas of public spending in real terms, reflecting both its small size and discretionary nature, and the diminishing political priority attached to religious and community services in an increasingly secular age. Spending priorities tend to follow the broad shape of society over time, and Britain has secularised remarkably fast in recent decades. The German church-funding comparison is in our Catholic Church tax revenue in Germany analysis.

The Sharp Drop in 2023/24

The single most striking event in the recent data is the sharp fall in 2023/24, when spending dropped from 191 million pounds to 146 million, a reduction of around 45 million or 24% in just one year. Such a large single-year swing is characteristic of a small budget line, where individual grants, projects, or one-off allocations can move the total significantly. A single sizeable programme starting or ending can shift the whole category by tens of millions. The 2022/23 peak may have reflected specific time-limited spending that was not repeated, while the 2023/24 figure brought the category back closer to its longer-term declining trend. One-off pandemic-era community support or particular grant rounds could plausibly explain such a temporary bump. Whatever the precise cause, the sharp drop underlines just how volatile this small spending line can be from one year to the next, and why real caution is needed in interpreting any single figure. A 24% move would be extraordinary in a major budget but is unremarkable here.

It is worth being cautious about reading too much into any single year's movement in such a small category. Unlike the vast, stable budgets for health or pensions, a line measured in the low hundreds of millions can swing sharply on the basis of just a handful of decisions, accounting reclassifications, or the timing of particular grants. The smaller the budget, the larger the proportional impact of any single change. The 2023/24 fall is best understood within the context of the longer-term decline rather than as a dramatic policy shift in its own right, though it does reinforce the overall downward direction of travel. It is the trend, not the single drop, that carries the real significance. The broader fiscal picture is in our world GDP growth rate analysis.

A Volatile Small Budget Line

One of the defining characteristics of this spending category is its volatility from year to year. Because the totals are small, in the low hundreds of millions, individual decisions, one-off grants, and accounting changes can produce sizeable percentage swings that would be invisible in a larger budget. What looks like a dramatic change in percentage terms may be a modest shift in absolute pounds. Over the period, the series shows several ups and downs around its declining trend, including the notable peak in 2022/23 and the sharp fall the following year, rather than a smooth, steady path downward. The jaggedness of the line is a direct consequence of how small the underlying numbers are.

This volatility means that the trend, rather than any single year, is the most reliable guide to what is happening. While individual years can rise or fall sharply, the underlying direction over the period from 2010/11 to 2025/26 has been clearly downward, with the recent figures sitting well below those at the start of the series. The signal, once the noise is stripped away, is unmistakably one of decline. Anyone analysing this category should therefore focus on the multi-year pattern rather than reacting to the latest annual figure, which may be distorted by one-off factors. A single year, taken in isolation, can be highly misleading in a budget this small. The smoothed trend tells a clearer story than the jagged year-to-year numbers. The smoothed multi-year trend tells a far clearer and more reliable story than the jagged year-to-year figures.

In the Context of Public Spending

To grasp just how small this spending line is, it helps to set it against the giants of the public finances. In 2024/25, the UK spent around 384 billion pounds on social protection, 242 billion on health, and 158 billion on general public services, while even housing and community amenities ran to over 20 billion. Each of these dwarfs religious services spending by a factor of hundreds or even thousands. Against these sums, the roughly 146 million pounds spent on religious and other community services is a rounding error, equivalent to less than 0.02% of total managed expenditure.

In a total managed budget now measured in the trillions of pounds, this particular spending line barely registers at all. This tiny scale is itself a telling indicator of the limited direct role the state plays in funding religious and community activity in the UK. Unlike some European countries that levy church taxes or otherwise heavily subsidise organised religion, the British state spends remarkably little directly on it through this route. The comparison with major economies is in our world GDP growth rate analysis, referenced earlier.

What Does This Spending Cover?

The category of religious and other community services is a specific HM Treasury functional classification, part of the wider international system used to break down public spending by purpose. Such standardised classifications allow public spending to be compared consistently across different years and even between different countries. It captures public sector support for religious organisations and certain other community services that do not fall neatly into larger categories such as education, health, or housing. As something of a residual, catch-all category, its exact contents can be harder to pin down than the big, well-defined headline budgets. In practice, this can include things like grants to faith and community groups, support for certain community facilities, and related administrative costs, though the precise composition is not always transparent in the headline figures. The published totals rarely break down exactly where each pound goes within the category.

It is important to note that this category does not represent the full extent of public support touching religion in the UK, much of which flows through other channels. Faith schools, for example, are funded through the education budget; the upkeep of historic churches may draw on heritage and culture funding; and the established status of the Church of England carries various indirect benefits not captured here. The true footprint of religion in public spending is therefore spread across many budget lines. The religious and other community services line is therefore a narrow, specific measure rather than a comprehensive account of all state support related to religion, and should be read with that limitation firmly in mind, as our world religions analysis helps set in context. The wider faith picture is in our religion in Europe analysis.

Why Is This Spending Falling?

The broad decline in this spending category over the period reflects several reinforcing pressures. The most immediate is the long era of fiscal restraint that followed the 2008 financial crisis, during which successive governments sought to control public spending, and smaller, discretionary budget lines like this one were often among the easiest to trim. Cutting a small, low-profile category like this rarely attracts the kind of political backlash that trimming health or pensions inevitably would. With limited political constituencies defending them and modest sums involved, such categories tend to be squeezed when budgets are under pressure, contributing to the gentle downward drift seen over the period. They make for easy savings precisely because so few people notice or actively object to the cuts.

Beyond fiscal pressure, the broader secularisation of British society has reduced the political salience of religious spending. As religious affiliation and church attendance have fallen sharply, the constituency for state support of religious and community services has weakened, making such spending an easier target for restraint and a lower priority for new investment. Fewer voters with a stake in religious provision means less political pressure to protect it. This connects the spending trend directly to the deeper demographic and cultural shifts reshaping religion across Britain, in which both belief and active practice have declined across most measures over recent decades, much like the church decline in our Evangelical Church members in Germany analysis. The belief trends behind this are in our belief in God in Great Britain analysis.

The Outlook for Future Spending

Looking ahead, the single most likely path for this spending category is continued stability at a low level, or perhaps further gradual decline. A sharp rebound to the levels of the early 2010s appears improbable on current trends. The estimated figures for 2024/25 and 2025/26, at around 150 to 152 million pounds, suggest a modest stabilisation after the sharp 2023/24 drop, but well below the levels seen earlier in the period. A broadly flat path at this lower level is the most natural reading of the most recent data we have. With public finances under sustained pressure and the secular trend in society showing no sign of reversing, there is little to suggest a substantial recovery in this kind of spending is on the horizon. If anything, the structural forces point towards continued restraint in this small category.

That said, the volatility of this small category means that future figures could surprise in either direction, with a single large grant or initiative capable of moving the total noticeably from one year to the next. Forecasting such a small and lumpy spending line with any real precision is inherently difficult. The possible "quiet revival" of religious interest among some younger Britons, if it proves durable, could in time affect the demand for and provision of community religious services, though any such effect on public spending would likely be gradual and modest. Cultural shifts of this kind tend to show up in state budgets only slowly, if at all. For now, the central expectation is for this small budget line to remain a minor and broadly declining feature of the UK public accounts for the foreseeable future. Barring some major and unexpected shift in policy or society, that is comfortably the most plausible path ahead. The wider community amenities spending is much larger, as our world population analysis context suggests.

UK Religious Services Spending - Key Statistics

Frequently Asked Questions - UK Religious Services Spending