Balanced budget funds key priorities.
More than £52 billion in spending last year has funded the
delivery of vital public services for the people of Scotland.
The Scottish Government's 2024-25 Provisional Outturn, which
compares actual spending with overall funding, included:
- Investing more than £19.5 billion in health and social care,
protecting existing critical delivery in the face of
unprecedented fiscal pressure and enabling frontline services to
continue to evolve to deliver the best care and treatment for our
diverse population.
- Supporting fair and affordable pay deals for workers who
provide our essential public services.
- Investing more than £5.9 billion for 2024-25 in social
security, directly supporting more than 1.4 million people across
Scotland. This includes £456 million allocated to the Child
Payment. As of 31 March 2025, 326,225 children aged 15 and under
were actively benefiting from Scottish Child Payment.
- Supporting economic growth despite global uncertainty.
Scotland's economy grew 1.2% in 2024, compared to 1.1% in the UK
as a whole, having strengthened from 0.5% growth in 2023.
The remaining £557 million of available funding – representing 1%
of the total Scottish Government budget – has been carried over
to support costs in 2025-26, with no loss of spending power to
the Scottish Government.
Public Finance Minister said:
“The provisional outturn demonstrates once again this Government
is prudently and competently managing Scotland's finances while
protecting our priorities and ensuring we can deliver effective
public services.
“Managing the financial position for 2024-25 was a challenge once
again. The continued impact of inflation, pressure on public
sector pay, and wider geopolitical instability meant careful
consideration had to be given to balancing the Scottish Budget.
“What's more, under the UK Spending Review the Scottish
Government's day-to-day spending is set to grow by 0.8% over the
next three years, considerably lower than the 1.2% average growth
for UK Government departments.
“The impact of these challenges on our financial planning will be
set out in the Medium-Term Financial Strategy tomorrow in
Parliament, but the growing future year pressures mean we must
act prudently and responsibly to remain fiscally sustainable.”
Background
2024-25 Provisional
Outturn Briefing Note 24 June 2025 - gov.scot
The Provisional Outturn for 2024-25 is £52.1 billion.
The Provisional Outturn figures will be finalised later in the
year once the Scottish Government and other devolved public
bodies complete their year-end audits.
The figures also show a £738 million non-cash underspend.
The non-cash element of the Scottish Budget is ringfenced for use
in technical accounting adjustments, and it is therefore not
possible for the Scottish Government to use it for day-to-day
spending. A large proportion, about £900 million, of this
budget relates to non-cash consequentials for student loan
impairments which are not required at the same level in Scotland
because of the policy of free university tuition.
