Public sector financial statistics, UK: January 2026

Record-Breaking Public Sector Surplus in January 2026

Preliminary figures indicate that the public sector achieved a surplus of £30.4 billion in January 2026. This amount is £15.9 billion greater than the surplus recorded in January 2025—effectively twice as much—and surpasses the Office for Budget Responsibility’s November 2025 projection by £6.3 billion. This marks the largest monthly surplus since records began in 1993, without adjusting for inflation.

January typically sees a spike in tax revenues due to self-assessment payments. In January 2026, provisional receipts from self-assessed Income and Capital Gains Taxes reached £46.4 billion, which is £10.5 billion higher than the same month in the previous year.