How Britain is really doing.

Lead story · NHS · August 2026

England’s NHS waiting list has tripled since 2012.

At the end of August 2026, England had 7.37 million unfinished treatment pathways (about 6.2 million people, as some wait for more than one treatment), against 2.44 million in March 2012. Only 65.2% had waited under 18 weeks, against the 92% standard last met in 2015–16. That share is up from 61.0% a year earlier, and the list is below its September 2023 peak of 7.77 million. Pathways are not the same as unique patients.

How the public ranks this issue, survey by survey: British Election Study 2024, 2nd of 18 (14%); ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, August 2026, 2nd of 13 (79%); Ipsos Issues Index, September 2026, 4th of 7 (20%). Different questions, so not comparable with each other.

Inflation · United Kingdom · January 2021–September 2026

A £100 basket in January 2021 now costs £132. Lower inflation would slow that rise, not reverse it.

The CPI basket rose 32.2% between January 2021 and September 2026: £100 became £132.20. At the 2% target it would cost about £112. Annual inflation was 3.5% in September, up from 3.1% in August and above the 2% target.

How the public ranks this issue, survey by survey: British Election Study 2024, 1st of 18 (23%); ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, August 2026, 1st of 13 (89%); Ipsos Issues Index, September 2026, 3rd of 7 (27%). Different questions, so not comparable with each other.

Immigration · United Kingdom · year to December 2025 (provisional)

Net migration has fallen by more than three-quarters from its peak, to 171,000. Small-boat arrivals are about one in 20 of the people arriving.

Provisional UK net migration was 171,000 in the year to December 2025, against a peak of 944,000 in the year to March 2023. Net migration is arrivals minus departures: 813,000 people arrived and 642,000 left. About 41,472 people were detected crossing the Channel in small boats in 2025, about 5% of the number arriving (different measures). 13% of voters named immigration the most important issue facing the country in 2024, third behind living costs and the NHS; in a March 2026 poll it was first.

How the public ranks this issue, survey by survey: British Election Study 2024, 3rd of 18 (13%); ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, August 2026, 5th of 13 (61%); Ipsos Issues Index, September 2026, 1st of 7 (44%). Different questions, so not comparable with each other.

Economy & cost of living · United Kingdom · real household income per head, after tax and benefits, 1990–2025, annual

Living standards grew 2.3% a year before 2007. Since then, 0.7%.

Income per person, after tax and benefits and allowing for inflation, is up about 14% in the 18 years since 2007, against about 47% in the 17 before. Our assessment is that the main reason is output per hour, up just 7% since 2007. The 2025 figure is the latest annual estimate and may be revised.

How the public ranks this issue, survey by survey: British Election Study 2024, 4th of 18 (13%); ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, August 2026, 3rd of 13 (70%); Ipsos Issues Index, September 2026, 2nd of 7 (29%). Different questions, so not comparable with each other.

Crime & safety · England and Wales · Year ending June 2026

Recorded knife offences fell 6%. Fraud rose 11%. Do we feel safe?

What the latest figures mean for your safety, your neighbourhood and what happens when you report a crime.

How the public ranks this issue, survey by survey: British Election Study 2024, 6th of 18 (5%); ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, August 2026, 6th of 13 (58%); Ipsos Issues Index, September 2026, 6th of 7 (10%). Different questions, so not comparable with each other.

Housing · England · 2025

A typical home in England costs 7.6 times annual pay, more than double 1997.

Median price over median full-time pay at England’s workplaces; 1997 earnings are annualised from weekly figures. Private renters spend about 36% of their household’s income before tax on rent, and 177,530 children are in temporary accommodation (March 2026, provisional).

How the public ranks this issue, survey by survey: British Election Study 2024, 8th of 18 (4%); ONS Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, August 2026, 8th of 13 (53%). Different questions, so not comparable with each other.

Energy & bills · Great Britain · Ofgem price cap, dual fuel, direct debit · Oct–Dec 2026

A year of typical energy use costs £1,723, £744 more than in 2021.

At Ofgem’s typical usage (2,500 kWh of electricity and 9,500 kWh of gas a year), the Great Britain direct-debit price cap comes to £1,723 a year for October–December 2026, against £979 for April–September 2021: that is Ofgem’s restatement of the 2021 cap at today’s typical use, not the figure published at the time, so the £ difference is in cash. Allowing for general inflation, the rise is roughly a third (UK Facts calculation). There is no VAT on domestic electricity from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027, which lowers the current figure. The cap limits unit rates and standing charges, not anyone’s total bill. In spring 2026, 22% of adults said they had cut heating or electricity to an uncomfortable level because of the cost of their energy bills, and 5% had also skipped meals.

Public finances · United Kingdom · 1995–96 to 2025–26 · latest provisional

Debt interest takes 8.8p of every £1 received—compared with 9.2p 30 years ago.

In 2025–26, central-government debt interest was equivalent to 8.8% of public-sector current receipts, compared with 9.2% in 1995–96. Receipts include taxes and other public income. The interest measure is net of the Bank of England’s asset purchase scheme. Latest-year figures are provisional; this comparison uses the September 2026 data edition.

Jobs & pay · UK · people aged 16–64 · June to August 2026

2.7 million working-age people are out of work through long-term sickness, 658,000 more than at the end of 2019.

June to August 2026: 2,738,000 people aged 16 to 64 were not working and not looking for work because of long-term illness, against 2,080,000 in October to December 2019. This is not a count of people unable to work. The overall share outside the labour market has barely moved (20.9% against 20.6% in late 2019; 9,091,000 people), but the reasons have shifted: more are long-term sick and fewer are looking after family. About 39% of all inactive people are students or retired. Unemployment is a separate, smaller group: 4.7% of the labour force, up from 3.7%. Of the 16 to 24s outside work and education (981,000), 588,000 are inactive and 393,000 unemployed. Labour Force Survey estimate.

Education · England · state-funded schools · 2024/25 final, with provisional 2025/26 beside it

Disadvantaged pupils in England are about half as likely as other pupils to get a strong GCSE pass in English and maths.

England, state-funded schools, 2024/25: 25.8% of disadvantaged pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths, compared with 53.1% of other pupils, the same rates as in 2023/24. The 27.3-point gap is wider than the 25.2 points of 2018/19, the last pre-pandemic exam year. In DfE’s provisional 2025/26 figures (published 15 October 2026, can be revised) the rates are 27.5% and 54.3%. For every 100 other pupils with a strong pass, about 49 disadvantaged pupils achieve one in 2024/25. That compares two groups; it does not show that either group improved or worsened. These thresholds are not a complete measure of learning.

Health · United Kingdom · 2011–13 to 2022–24

Britain is losing healthy years.

Healthy life expectancy in the UK in 2022–24 was the lowest since the ONS series began in 2011–13: 60.7 years for men and 60.9 for women, down from 62.7 and 63.7. Life expectancy has risen since 2019–21, back to its pre-pandemic level for women and slightly below it for men; years in self-rated good health have kept falling. This is a population estimate, not a prediction for any one child.

Inequality · UK · 2024–25 · below 60% of median income, after housing costs · DWP survey estimate

More than one in four UK children, 4.0 million, live in low-income households after housing costs.

27.4% of children in the United Kingdom (4.03 million) were in relative low income after housing costs in 2024–25: living in a household below 60% of the typical (median) income, after rent or mortgage costs. The line moves with typical incomes, so this is not a count of children going without. The estimate is from a household survey (the Family Resources Survey, used for DWP’s Households Below Average Income statistics) and carries sampling error. From 2021–22 DWP links benefit records into the survey, which lowers the rate by about three points, so years before and after are not like for like. 13% of children were in deep material poverty (lacking at least four of thirteen essentials). Separately, England’s most deprived areas have 19.4 fewer years in good health for men and 20.3 for women than the least deprived (2022–2024).

Adult social care · England · older people at home 2024 · council care 2014–15 to 2024–25

One in four older people at home lacked help with at least one everyday task.

In England in 2024, 24% of people aged 65 and over in private households (27% of women, 21% of men) needed help with at least one everyday personal task, such as washing or dressing, and had not received help with it in the past month; help from family or friends counts as help. This is a self-reported survey estimate (Health Survey for England 2024), not a count of people refused care. Council services and unpaid carers meet different parts of that need. The number of people over 65 in England is projected to grow by 24% by 2040, and councils’ care directors reported overspending their adult social care budgets by £715 million in 2025–26.

Benefits · Great Britain · 1994–95 to 2024–25 · includes the State Pension

Welfare spending rose 76% over 30 years, after inflation. Where does the money go?

How spending has changed, who receives support, and whether help reaches the people entitled to it. Includes the State Pension, working-age benefits and support for children.

Pensions · Great Britain · 2024–25

About 13 million people now get the State Pension, nearly 29% more than 30 years ago.

2024–25: 13.0 million people received the State Pension in Great Britain, against 10.1 million in 1994–95 (+28.6%). Counted by age instead, the rise is 43% for people aged 65 and over and 17% for people at State Pension age, because that age has risen to 66. Ageing is the main reason State Pension spending is projected to grow from 4.8% of GDP now to 8.6% by 2075–76 if the triple lock continues. 13.9% of pensioners were in relative poverty after housing costs in 2024–25.

SEND · England · school pupils with an EHC plan or statement · January 2016 to January 2026

Six in 100 pupils in England now have a special-needs plan, more than double the share in 2016.

538,547 pupils in schools in England had an education, health and care (EHC) plan in January 2026: 6.0% of pupils, against 2.8% in January 2016 (2.2 times the share; the 2016 figure includes remaining statements of special educational needs). A further 1,319,780 pupils (14.8%) received SEN support without a plan. Counting everyone aged 0–25 in every setting, 718,838 held a plan in January 2026, against 240,183 in January 2015 (2.99 times as many); that count crosses the 2014 change from statements to plans and the extension of the age range, so it is not a like-for-like trend. A plan is a legal entitlement to an assessment and support, not a measure of the support delivered.

Growth & productivity · UK · output per hour worked · 1997 to 2025

Britain’s workers produce only 7% more per hour than in 2007, after a 24% rise in the ten years before.

Output per hour worked, the main long-run source of higher pay, was 99.3 in 2025 on ONS’s whole-economy index (2023 = 100), against 93 in 2007 (+6.8%) and 75.3 in 1997 (+23.5% from 1997 to 2007). That is about 2.1% a year before 2007 and 0.4% a year since. ONS revises hours worked when the Labour Force Survey is reweighted. Investment is one input: UK investment was 18.7% of GDP in 2024, compared with 21.8% for the other G7 economies’ median, and the lowest or second-lowest of the seven since 1992. Delivery also depends on skills, power and planning.

Defence · United Kingdom · spending 2010–11 to 2024–25 · personnel 2010 to 1 July 2026

Britain’s regular forces are 28% smaller than in 2010. Real defence spending is 5% higher.

There were 137,966 UK Regular Forces personnel (excluding Gurkhas and reserves) on 1 April 2026, against 191,710 on 1 April 2010: 28.0% fewer. MOD’s defence spending, in 2024–25 prices, was £60.2bn in 2024–25 against £57.1bn in 2010–11: 5.4% higher. Both comparisons start in 2010 and end on the latest published data (personnel April 2026, spending 2024–25); the spending series starts in 2010–11 because the basis changed that year. Fewer people for similar money is not a verdict on capability. Readiness is not published: official statements describe stockpiles as inadequate and one major aircraft's availability as about half its target. About 15% of spending with industry is for work done overseas, 6% of it paid to the US government. For a longer view, the 1 April 2006 count was 195,850 (30% fewer by 2026).

Innovation · United Kingdom · R&D 2024 · equity finance 2025

£79bn on research. Spending is only the beginning.

R&D performed in the UK cost £79.4bn in 2024, 2.71% of GDP. Spending is an input, not a measured return. Follow the evidence from research to spin-outs, business investment and adoption; those outcomes cannot all be attributed to R&D spending.

Government delivery · UK government · 12 commitments since 20 July 2026 · assessed 12 October 2026

Nine of the government’s 12 tracked pledges still lack a costed timetable.

Of twelve commitments tracked since 20 July 2026, three had a date, a stated cost and a delivery mechanism at our latest checks (to 12 October); one of those was in force. The remaining nine include care, council housing and devolution promises.