Council · West London ·
UK national debt passes £3 trillion for the first time, official figures show
Debt reached a provisional £3,005bn at the end of September, with government borrowing and interest costs both coming in higher than a year earlier, the week before the Budget.
The UK's national debt has gone above £3 trillion for the first time, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published on Wednesday 21 October.
The ONS provisionally estimated public sector net debt at £3,005.0bn at the end of September 2026. This is the amount the public sector owes to the private sector and overseas lenders, minus its liquid assets.
Spread across the population, that comes to roughly £43,000 for every person in the UK, or more than £100,000 per household.
Borrowing higher than forecast
The ONS said public sector net borrowing, the gap between what the state spends and what it takes in, was £24.5bn in September 2026. That was £1.8bn (7.7 per cent) more than in September 2025 and £1.9bn more than the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) had forecast.
The statisticians said spending, including higher debt interest costs, rose faster than government income, partly because of inflation.
Central government debt interest payable was £10.9bn in September, the ONS said. That was £1.6bn (16.6 per cent) more than a year earlier.
Total borrowing for the first half of the financial year, April to September, was about £88bn. The ONS said this was still below the same period last year.
From £2 trillion to £3 trillion
The debt first went above £2 trillion in the summer of 2020, when the government borrowed heavily to pay for its response to the Covid-19 pandemic, including the furlough scheme. It has taken about six years to add another trillion.
The previous month's figures had put the debt just under the £3 trillion mark, at about £2,985bn at the end of August.
The ONS described all the latest figures as provisional, and they may be revised as more data comes in.
What it means ahead of the Budget
The figures were the last official public finance data before the Chancellor's Budget, due the following week. They add to the pressure on the Treasury to balance its books without big tax rises or spending cuts.
Rising interest costs matter because money spent servicing the debt is not available for public services. For households and businesses in West London, the decisions made in the Budget on taxes, benefits and funding for councils, the NHS, schools and transport will show how the government plans to deal with the gap.
The OBR, the government's independent forecaster, publishes its own assessment of the public finances alongside each Budget. It will show whether borrowing is on track to meet the government's fiscal rules.
The ONS will publish its next public sector finances figures, for October 2026, on 20 November.