What was claimed
For the first time in history, annual expenditure on pensions and benefits is now larger than Britain’s entire income-tax take.
Our verdict
Incorrect. Welfare payments have been higher than income tax receipts for at least the last 16 years, and income tax receipts are expected to overtake them this year.
The Daily Mail has corrected an opinion article by the former Conservative MP Bob Seely after Full Fact got in touch.
The article, which appeared in Friday’s paper and online, originally said: “For the first time in our history, the breathtaking annual expenditure on pensions and benefits, at £333.7 billion, is now larger than Britain’s entire income tax take, at £329 billion.”
It's true that total welfare spending is estimated to have been slightly higher than income tax receipts in 2025/26. But this is not the first time that's happened.
As we said in a fact check of the Conservative MP Katie Lam last week, welfare spending—which includes the state pension as well as universal credit and other benefits—has been higher than income tax receipts for at least the last 16 years. We established this using official figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which confirmed our conclusions (although our figures are slightly different from Mr Seely’s).
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Indeed, far from 2025/26 being the first time this has happened, OBR figures suggest that it may be the last for the foreseeable future, until the end of the forecast period in 2030/31.
It's worth remembering that figures like these don't simply show the money raised from people who work and the money spent on people who don't. Many working people receive benefits, and many people who are not working—including pensioners—pay income tax. Working people pay National Insurance contributions too.
The corrected Daily Mail article now includes a note saying: “A previous version of this article said that welfare payments had exceeded income tax revenue for the first time. In fact, this has been the case for several years. The article has been amended to make this clear.” We’re grateful for the prompt correction.
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