What matters · Great Britain · 2024 survey
What matters most to people, what do the figures say, and where does the money go?
Living costs (23%), the NHS and health (14%) and immigration (13%) led what people named as the most important issue in 2024. Four issues together account for about 62% of answers. Public money goes mostly to pensions, benefits, health and education. The two do not line up, and they are not meant to: spending pays for services, the survey asks for one worry.
Evidence last reviewed 21 October 2026
What people say matters most
Asked for the single most important issue facing the country, people named living costs more than any other. The NHS, immigration and the economy follow. Crime, housing and the environment sit well behind. Each issue below links to its evidence page.
- 1. Living costs23%
- 2. NHS and health14%
- 3. Immigration13%
- 4. Economy, jobs and pay13%
- 5. Politics and trust in government6%
- 6. Crime and policing5%
- 7. Poverty and inequality4%
- 8. Housing4%
- 9. Extremism, race relations and morals3%
- 10. Climate, environment and energy3%
- 11. Defence and security2%
- 12. Public services and infrastructure2%
- 13. Education and childcare2%
- 14. Taxation0.9%
- 15. Brexit0.8%
- 16. Benefits0.7%
- 17. Pensions, ageing and social care0.4%
- 18. Media and social media0.2%
View the figures as a table
| Issue | Share | 95% interval | Answers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Living costs | 22.5% | 20.8 to 24.2 | Living costs |
| NHS and health | 13.6% | 12.2 to 15.0 | Mental health / well-being; National Health Service / Hospitals / Healthcare |
| Immigration | 13.1% | 11.8 to 14.5 | Immigration |
| Economy, jobs and pay | 12.8% | 11.4 to 14.1 | Economy - general; Low pay / minimum wage / fair wages; Unemployment / factory closure / lack of industry |
| Brexit | 0.8% | 0.4 to 1.1 | Economic consequences of Brexit |
| Politics and trust in government | 5.7% | 4.8 to 6.7 | Politics / the government / lack of trust in the government |
| Crime and policing | 4.9% | 4.0 to 5.8 | Crime / law & order / violence / vandalism / anti-social behaviour |
| Housing | 3.9% | 3.1 to 4.7 | Housing / homelessness |
| Climate, environment and energy | 2.5% | 1.9 to 3.2 | Climate change / global warming / environment; Energy crisis |
| Poverty and inequality | 4.2% | 3.3 to 5.0 | Inequality; Poverty |
| Education and childcare | 1.7% | 1.2 to 2.2 | Childcare services/support for young people; Education/ schools |
| Pensions, ageing and social care | 0.4% | 0.1 to 0.6 | Pensions / Ageing population / Social care for the elderly |
| Benefits | 0.7% | 0.4 to 1.0 | Social security / benefits |
| Defence and security | 2.4% | 1.8 to 3.1 | Defence; Security |
| Taxation | 0.9% | 0.6 to 1.3 | Taxation |
| Public services and infrastructure | 1.9% | 1.3 to 2.4 | Poor / lack of infrastructure; Public services in general |
| Media and social media | 0.2% | 0.0 to 0.3 | Social media / media influence |
| Extremism, race relations and morals | 3.2% | 2.5 to 3.9 | Extremism / radicalism / far right increase; Morals; Overpopulation; Race relations; Religious discrimination |
| Other issues | 2.2% | 1.6 to 2.8 | Other |
| Nothing, or don’t know | 2.4% | 1.8 to 3.0 | Don’t know; Nothing / none |
What the data says, issue by issue
Each card shows the share who named the issue, the headline on its evidence page and the money line where one exists. The headlines are read from the pages themselves, so they change when those pages do.
1.Living costs
23%
- Cost of living: Work full time. Keep just 30p of every £1 to live on.
- Inflation: A £100 basket in January 2021 now costs £132. Lower inflation would slow that rise, not reverse it.
Money: no single spending line covers this issue.
2.NHS and health
14%
Money: Health, £258bn (18.9% of public spending, 2025-26).
3.Immigration
13%
- Immigration: 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.
Money: no single spending line covers this issue.
4.Economy, jobs and pay
13%
- Economy: Living standards grew 2.3% a year before 2007. Since then, 0.7%.
- Employment: 2.7 million working-age people are out of work through long-term sickness, 658,000 more than at the end of 2019.
Money: no single spending line covers this issue.
5.Politics and trust in government
6%
No evidence page yet for this issue.
Money: no single spending line covers this issue.
6.Crime and policing
5%
- Crime: Recorded knife offences fell 6%. Fraud rose 11%. Do we feel safe?
Money: Public order and safety, £56bn (4.1% of public spending, 2025-26).
7.Poverty and inequality
4%
- Inequality: More than one in four UK children, 4.0 million, live in low-income households after housing costs.
Money: no single spending line covers this issue.
8.Housing
4%
- Housing: A typical home in England costs 7.6 times annual pay, more than double 1997.
Money: Housing and community amenities, £23bn (1.7% of public spending, 2025-26). Excludes housing benefit, which sits in social protection.
9.Extremism, race relations and morals
3%
No evidence page yet for this issue.
Money: no single spending line covers this issue.
10.Climate, environment and energy
3%
- Energy: A year of typical energy use costs £1,723, £744 more than in 2021.
Money: Environment protection, £19bn (1.4% of public spending, 2025-26). Energy support is not a separate line.
11.Defence and security
2%
- Defence: Britain’s regular forces are 28% smaller than in 2010. Real defence spending is 5% higher.
Money: Defence, £65bn (4.8% of public spending, 2025-26). UN definition; lower than the NATO measure.
12.Public services and infrastructure
2%
No evidence page yet for this issue.
Money: no single spending line covers this issue.
13.Education and childcare
2%
- Education: Disadvantaged pupils in England are about half as likely as other pupils to get a strong GCSE pass in English and maths.
Money: Education, £126bn (9.2% of public spending, 2025-26).
14.Taxation
0.9%
- Public finances: Debt interest takes 8.8p of every £1 received—compared with 9.2p 30 years ago.
Money: no single spending line covers this issue.
15.Brexit
0.8%
- Brexit: Nearly two in three Britons say leaving the EU has gone badly. Fewer than one in twelve say it has gone well.
Money: no single spending line covers this issue.
16.Benefits
0.7%
- Benefits: Welfare spending rose 76% over 30 years, after inflation. Where does the money go?
Money: Other DWP benefits, £153bn (11.8% of public spending, 2024-25). All DWP benefits less the State Pension.
17.Pensions, ageing and social care
0.4%
- Pensions: About 13 million people now get the State Pension, nearly 29% more than 30 years ago.
- Social care: One in four older people at home lacked help with at least one everyday task.
Money: State Pension, £137bn (10.6% of public spending, 2024-25). Social care is paid for by councils and the NHS and is not in this figure.
18.Media and social media
0.2%
- Media: Almost six in ten under-35s get most of their political news from social media. Among over-55s, fewer than one in twelve do.
Money: no single spending line covers this issue.
Where the money goes
Pensions, benefits and social care take the largest share of public spending. Health is next. Several of the issues people name most, such as living costs and immigration, have no spending line of their own.
What people say matters most
Share naming each as the most important issue (British Election Study 2024, 3,031 adults).
Where public money goes
Share of £1360bn total managed spending, 2025-26 (HM Treasury, PESA 2026).
- Health · named by 14% · 19% of spending (£258bn)
- Pensions, benefits and social care · named by 1% · 30% of spending (£407bn)
- Education · named by 2% · 9% of spending (£126bn)
- Defence · named by 2% · 5% of spending (£65bn)
- Crime and policing · named by 5% · 4% of spending (£56bn)
- Housing · named by 4% · 2% of spending (£23bn)
- Climate and environment · named by 3% · 1% of spending (£19bn)
- Everything else people named: living costs, economy and jobs, immigration, trust in politics, poverty and other answers · named by 70%
- Spending lines with no matching issue: debt interest, transport and industry, other services and accounting items · 30% of spending (£407bn)
| Issue or line | Named as top issue | Share of spending | £bn |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pensions, benefits and social care | 1.1% | 29.9% | 407.3 |
| Health | 13.6% | 18.9% | 257.5 |
| Education | 1.7% | 9.2% | 125.7 |
| Defence | 2.4% | 4.8% | 65.4 |
| Crime and policing | 4.9% | 4.1% | 55.7 |
| Housing | 3.9% | 1.7% | 22.5 |
| Climate and environment | 2.5% | 1.4% | 19.2 |
What people would put extra money into
A different question gives a different picture. Asked which area should get extra public spending first, about half named health. Housing and education came next, well above their share of today’s spending. Benefits came low.
- Health48%19% of spend
- Education15%9% of spend
- Housing12%2% of spend
- Defence9%5% of spend
- Police and prisons5%4% of spend
- Roads4%
- Public transport3%
- Social security benefits2%12% of spend
- Help for industry1%
- Overseas aid0.3%
What this does not show
Sources and methods (4)
- British Election Study, 2024: Post-Election Random Probability Survey, question A01 (most important issue) (released UK Data Service, January 2026) — the issue people named
- British Social Attitudes Survey, 2024, variable Spend1 (highest priority for extra spending) (released UK Data Service, May 2026) — what people would put extra spending into and pension confidence
- HM Treasury, Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2026, Table 4.2 (released 16 July 2026) — spending by function
- DWP, benefit expenditure tables (released outturn 2024-25) — State Pension and other benefits
Method notes
- Groups combine the survey’s 33 codes into 20 issues (scripts/surveys/ingest-bes-2024.py). Every code is used once; the table under the first chart lists them.
- Weight: wt_demog, the study’s demographic weight for the voting-eligible population (user guide v1.0.1). Using wt_vote or Wt_BES instead changes no group by more than 1.2 percentage points.
- Intervals are approximate: they use the effective sample size from the weights (2,336.7) and ignore clustering, so the true margin is wider.
- Shares of spending use the same year’s total. State Pension and other DWP benefits use 2024-25 outturn against that year’s total; everything else uses 2025-26.
- Microdata is licensed by the UK Data Service and is not published here; the page uses aggregate tables only.
- Citation: Fieldhouse, E., Green, J., Evans, G., Mellon, J., Prosser, C., Bailey, J., Griffiths, J., Perrett, S. (2026). British Election Study, 2024: Post-Election Random Probability Survey. [data collection]. UK Data Service. SN: 9502.
Corrections and changes
- 21 October 2026: New dev-preview page.