HM Treasury is addressing long-term fiscal sustainability and hidden financial risks in public finances, particularly around pension liabilities, climate change impacts, and rising health spending pressures. The Fiscal Risks and Sustainability Report (published by the Office for Budget Responsibility) identifies emerging threats to fiscal stability, with Treasury responses outlining mitigation strategies and improved financial disclosure through the Whole of Government Accounts.
In response to: Government Response to the 2025 Fiscal Risks and Sustainability Report
The government has published its response to the Office for Budget Responsibility’s 2025 Fiscal Risks and Sustainability Report.
The Whole of Government Accounts consolidates accounts from over 10,000 public bodies, providing an overview of the UK’s public finances. Report type: financial_audit | Departments: ['Cross-government', 'HM Treasury'] | Topics: ['Money and tax']
In response to: Government Response to the 2024 Fiscal Risks and Sustainability Report
The government has published its response to the Office for Budget Responsibility’s 2024 Fiscal Risks and Sustainability Report.
We challenged the Treasury over the difficulty that an ordinary reader would have understand the actual movement in large liabilities from year to year.58 Written evidence received from Professor David Heald also noted that the recent volatility of the discount …
We received written evidence from the ICAEW which states that the significant reduction in pensions liabilities presented within the 2022–23 WGA is the most significant change in the balance sheet for the government, and is primarily due to actuarial assumptions, …
Written evidence we received from the ICAEW stressed that, in the absence of discount rates noted in earlier sections, the UK government had a deficit of £200 billion in 2022–23. The ICAEW noted that this deficit is more than 20% …
The Whole of Government Accounts consolidates accounts from over 10,000 public bodies, providing an overview of the UK’s public finances. Report type: financial_audit | Departments: ['Cross-government', 'HM Treasury'] | Topics: ['Money and tax']
On Monday 8 July, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that she had instructed Treasury officials to undertake an audit of public spending for 2024-25.
The WGA offers an important tool not only for managing public finances but for ensuring transparency and accountability.12 We received written evidence from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), which told us that the WGA is …
HM Treasury also increased the use of unaudited data—data which has been audited only for presentation in the individual entity’s own accounts, rather than in OSCAR II format—in the 2020–21 WGA. We received written evidence from the ICAEW, which told …
Given the potential for the WGA to be an important and really useful document about public spending, we asked the Treasury how it could help Parliamentarians and members of the public to understand the WGA and its implications. The ICAEW …
The government has published its response to the Office for Budget Responsibility’s 2023 Fiscal Risks and Sustainability Report.
The environment for government borrowing has become more challenging in recent years – requiring sustained focus from government. Report type: value_for_money | Departments: ['HM Treasury'] | Topics: ['Commercial and financial management', 'Corporate finance', 'Financial sustainability']
The government has published its response to the Office for Budget Responsibility’s 2022 Fiscal Risks and Sustainability Report.
Letter from the Chancellor to the Chair of the OBR responding to the 2021 Fiscal Risks Report.
Managing fiscal risks provides a comprehensive account of the actions the government is taking to address the 57 risks outlined by the OBR.