"It is the duty of the Office to examine and report on the sustainability of the public finances"
We have published our response to the third external review which sets out how we are addressing the 11 recommendations made by Laura van Geest in her February 2025 review of the OBR. These recommendations span our independence, analytical infrastructure, and communications impact. We have already implemented the recommendations on independence and are progressing work…
The Chancellor has today nominated Richard Hughes as Chair of the OBR for a second and final five-year term of office, subject to the approval of the Treasury Committee of the House of Commons. The OBR’s Chair, alongside other Budget Responsibility Committee (BRC) members, has executive responsibility for the OBR and is responsible for judgements…
Our latest report on Fiscal risks and sustainability (FRS) will be published on Tuesday 8 July. It will be launched at a press conference in Liverpool. The 2025 FRS report will focus on three current pressures on the public finances and provide an update on the risk register: Climate change, where we will update our estimates of…
The OBR’s non-executive members commissioned Laura van Geest, former head of the Netherlands Bureau of Economic Policy Analysis (CPB) to lead the third external review of the work of the OBR in May 2024. The review concludes that “Over the last five years, the OBR has successfully navigated a series of unprecedented economic and fiscal…
The third external review of the work of the OBR, led by Laura van Geest, will be published on Monday 10 February.
The Chancellor has announced that the Spring forecast will take place on Wednesday 26 March 2025. Our latest outlook for the economy and public finances will be released on the same day.
Our 2024 Welfare trends report (WTR) will be published on Thursday 10 October. This biennial report will examine the drivers of spending on incapacity benefits over the last 50 years. Alongside this, we will also publish our 2024 Forecast evaluation report (FER) on Thursday 10 October. We will focus on our March 2023 forecast and…
Our latest report on Fiscal risks and sustainability (FRS) will be published on Thursday 12 September. The 2024 FRS report will focus on three areas: Climate change, where we will explore the potential fiscal costs of damage from a changing climate, supplementing our 2021 analysis of the fiscal cost of getting to net zero. Health,…
The Chancellor has announced that the Autumn Budget will take place on Wednesday 30 October 2024. Our latest outlook for the economy and public finances will be released on the same day.
OBR Chair Richard Hughes has written to the Treasury Select Committee of the House of Commons to inform them that the OBR has initiated a review into the preparation of the Departmental Expenditure Limits (DEL) forecast for the March 2024 Economic and fiscal outlook (EFO). The review will conclude in advance of our next EFO…