Government revenues attributed to Scotland rose by £6.3bn in 2025-26, while the gap between estimated public spending and revenue narrowed to £25.3bn.
Sector: Economy | Council: National Scotland
Government revenues attributed to Scotland reached a record £98.3bn in 2025-26, according to the latest Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland figures.
The total was £6.3bn, or 6.9%, higher than the previous year. Public spending attributed to Scotland also increased, but at a slower rate, rising by £5.7bn to £123.6bn.
The result was a notional net fiscal deficit of £25.3bn, down by £600m over the year. The deficit was equivalent to 10.9% of Scottish gross domestic product, compared with 4.2% for the UK as a whole. Scotland’s percentage improved by 0.6 percentage points during the year.
GERS is an accredited official statistics publication which estimates both the revenue raised in Scotland and public spending undertaken for the benefit of people in Scotland. It includes spending and revenues controlled by both the Scottish and UK governments.
Revenue per person, including Scotland’s geographical share of North Sea receipts, was £17,718, almost identical to the UK average of £17,720.
Spending per person was substantially higher. The figures put Scottish public expenditure at £22,281 per person, £2,720 above the UK average of £19,561.
Among the largest changes was a £2.4bn increase in National Insurance contributions, following the UK Government’s increase in employer contributions from April 2025. Income tax receipts rose by £1.5bn.
The statistics said the income tax increase also reflected Scottish tax decisions, continuing effects from inflation and growth in nominal earnings.
Devolved revenues, which include Scottish Income Tax, Council Tax, non-domestic rates, Land and Buildings Transaction Tax and Scottish Landfill Tax, generated £27.8bn. That was £2.1bn, or 8.2%, higher than a year earlier.
North Sea revenues moved in the opposite direction. They fell by £400m to £3.2bn as oil and gas prices declined.
The largest increases in spending were in social protection, up £2.1bn, and health, up £1.5bn.
Deputy First Minister and Finance Secretary Jenny Gilruth said the figures showed revenues growing more quickly than spending and pointed in particular to higher income tax receipts.
The figures are likely to be interpreted differently across Scotland’s constitutional debate. The Scottish Government stresses that GERS describes Scotland’s finances within the existing UK system and is not a forecast of the finances of an independent state. Equally, the figures show that under current arrangements considerably more public expenditure is attributed to Scotland than revenue is estimated to be raised there.
The most notable movement in this year’s figures is therefore not the disappearance of the fiscal gap, but its modest narrowing alongside strong revenue growth.
Sources
Scottish Government — Government Expenditure & Revenue Scotland 2025-26
https://www.gov.scot/publications/government-expenditure-revenue-scotland-2025-26/
Scottish Government — Government revenues in Scotland reach record high
https://www.gov.scot/news/government-revenues-in-scotland-reach-record-high/
