UK Government Borrowing Hits £1.8 Billion in July 2026, Up 69 Per Cent on Last Year

ONS figures show public sector net borrowing rose by £0.7 billion compared with July 2025, coming in £2.3 billion above the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast for the month.

The UK government borrowed £1.8 billion in July 2026, a 68.7 per cent rise compared with £1.1 billion in the same month last year, according to figures posted by the Office for National Statistics. The borrowing total also overshot the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast profile for July by £2.3 billion — a gap driven primarily by spending rather than weak tax receipts.

Despite the year-on-year increase, the ONS notes that £1.8 billion ranks as the sixteenth-lowest July borrowing figure on record in cash terms. So the monthly number is historically modest — but the direction of travel matters. For the first three months of the 2026–27 financial year combined, borrowing reached £57.6 billion: £3.7 billion below the same period last year, yet £2.7 billion above the OBR’s March forecast profile.

ONS also cautions that July is a volatile month for self-assessed Income Tax receipts, and advises that July and August figures should be read together to avoid distortion from payment timing differences.

The figures carry practical weight for Kent. Higher-than-forecast borrowing increases pressure on the government to restrain spending or raise revenue, which could feed through into tighter settlements for Kent County Council, Medway Council, and NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board. Services from highways maintenance to children’s social care are funded partly through central government grants shaped by the same fiscal aggregates the OBR monitors. Elevated debt also tends to keep upward pressure on market interest rates, affecting mortgage costs and local authority borrowing for capital projects across the county.

Public sector net debt excluding public sector banks stood at 96.1 per cent of GDP as of July 2025 — close to levels last seen in the early 1960s — meaning even relatively low monthly borrowing adds to an already large stock of debt. The OBR has described the first-quarter position as manageable but flagged spending pressures, above all debt interest and social benefits, as areas requiring attention.