08 October 2025
We have been informed by HM Revenue and Customs that there was an error in the Value Added Tax (VAT) receipts data supplied to ONS and included in our Public Sector Finances release published on 19 September 2025.
The error affects our headline series public sector current budget deficit and public sector net borrowing, for the period January 2025 to August 2025. No earlier time periods are affected.
The next public sector finances release will be published on 21 October 2025 and will include corrections for this error, along with further regular data updates.
Correcting for the error reduces public sector net borrowing by between £200 million and £500 million per month within the period affected, resulting in a reduction in borrowing of £1 billion for the financial year ending March 2025, and a reduction of £2 billion for the financial year to date (April to August 2025).
The impact of the VAT receipts data error on headline series is illustrated in these tables, which also show how the restated version of public sector net borrowing compares with official forecasts.
There is no impact on our public sector finances headline series for central government net cash requirement, public sector net debt, or public sector net financial liabilities.
A statement from HM Revenue and Customs is available.
Public sector finances statistics are compiled on a National Accounts (accrued) basis while HM Revenue and Customs statistics are published on a cash basis. This means that although the overall magnitude of the impact is similar, the impact of the error on public sector finances statistics, particularly the time period affected, differs from the impact on statistics published by HM Revenue and Customs.
