Brexit preparation placed billions of pounds and thousands of public servants behind the UK’s effort to leave the European Union. HM Treasury made £6.3 billion available between June 2016 and 31 March 2020, while departments had spent at least £4.4 billion by 31 January 2020. The figures below come from the National Audit Office report The cost of EU Exit preparations and refer to the periods stated.
Contents
- Overall funding and spending
- Which departments spent the most
- Staffing and skills
- What the spending paid for
- No-deal preparations and operational capacity
- Funding routes and unallocated money
Overall funding and spending
The headline figure is £6.3 billion made available for EU Exit preparations between June 2016 and 31 March 2020. The NAO’s funding table recorded £6.252 billion in total funding, while HM Treasury’s allocation graph totalled £5.4 billion in departmental allocations. A further £0.1 billion went to devolved administrations and other bodies outside the main departments, and £0.7 billion of available funding was not allocated.
Departments spent at least £4.4 billion between June 2016 and 31 January 2020. The spending covered preparation work before the UK’s later relationship with the EU was established. It represented less than 1% of total departmental expenditure over the period. Some departments also funded £301 million of EU Exit work from their existing budgets.
The timing of spending matters. At least £1.8 billion was spent from 1 April 2019 to 31 October 2019, a period that included intensified preparations for a possible no-deal exit. HM Treasury reported that departments had spent £1 billion less than their 2019–20 EU Exit allocation by 31 January 2020. These are different measures: one is spending to a stated date, while the other compares spending with an allocation.
The initial funding package for the Department for Exiting the European Union, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Trade was £412 million. Later allocations included £106 million in tranche 1 funding to 10 organisations, £161 million in tranche 2 funding to 11 organisations, and £17 million in a Spring Supplementary adjustment to 2017–18 funding.
Which departments spent the most
The spending figures below are the NAO’s reported amounts for EU Exit preparations. They show how responsibility was distributed across departments, rather than measuring the overall economic cost or benefit of Brexit.
| Department | EU Exit preparation spending |
|---|---|
| Defra | £871 million |
| Home Office | £803 million |
| HMRC | £748 million |
| Department for International Trade | £284 million |
| Department for Transport | £269 million |
| BEIS | £249 million |
| DExEU | £228 million |
| Department for Work and Pensions | £157 million |
| Cabinet Office | £149 million |
| Department of Health and Social Care | £132 million |
| HM Treasury | £102 million |
| Foreign and Commonwealth Office | £88 million |
| MHCLG | £85 million |
Defra recorded the largest amount at £871 million, followed by the Home Office at £803 million and HMRC at £748 million. The Department for International Trade recorded £284 million, while the Department for Transport recorded £269 million. BEIS recorded £249 million and DExEU recorded £228 million.
The remaining figures also show that EU Exit work extended across departments with different responsibilities. DWP recorded £157 million, the Cabinet Office £149 million, DHSC £132 million, HMT £102 million, the FCO £88 million and MHCLG £85 million. The figures are reported department by department and should not be treated as a ranking of the wider importance of each department’s work.
Staffing and skills
Personnel was the largest identifiable spending category. Departments spent at least £1.9 billion on EU Exit staffing, and staff costs accounted for 51% of categorised EU Exit spend. At the end of March 2019, 5% of departments’ total workforce was working on EU Exit roles.
Across 18 departments, at least 18,000 staff were working on EU Exit by 31 March 2019. More than 22,000 staff were working on EU Exit at 31 October 2019, which was also described as the peak in October 2019. The number of staff working on the programme would have made it the sixth-largest department in Whitehall, according to the NAO’s comparison.
The staffing effort changed the mix of skills available to government. The number of staff with policy skills increased by 35% since 2016, while the number with project-delivery skills increased by 26% since 2016. On 31 March 2019, 12% of senior civil servants were working in EU Exit roles.
Mobilisation also involved moving people between organisations. More than 1,500 people were moved across government in October 2019 to support a possible no-deal exit. About 1,300 people were loaned out during the March 2019 staff-mobilisation process. Separately, DWP retained 3,690 full-time-equivalent staff to increase service resilience.
What the spending paid for
The NAO grouped at least £288 million of spending under expertise and external advice. Departments spent at least £1.5 billion on activities including building new systems, advertising and other services. A further £0.6 billion could not be assigned to a specific spending category, so the categories do not account for every pound in the same way.
Communications were one visible part of the programme. Cabinet Office communications spending was £49 million, including the Get ready for Brexit campaign. The Home Office recorded £283 million of infrastructure spending. The EU Settlement Scheme was designed to register and provide status to an estimated 3.5 million EU nationals.
Local government organisations received £104 million in funding to prepare for EU Exit. Departments also allocated £442 million to arm’s-length bodies. Within that total, Defra allocated £111 million to the Rural Payments Agency, while BEIS allocated £87 million to the UK Space Agency.
These figures describe funding and spending reported for preparation activity. They do not establish that every allocation was ultimately spent, and they do not convert a forecast into an outturn. For example, the EU Settlement Scheme figure is an estimate of the number of EU nationals the system was designed to register and provide status to, not a count of completed registrations in the figures listed here.
No-deal preparations and operational capacity
No-deal planning formed a substantial part of the later preparation effort. Specific no-deal funding of £1.2 billion was taken up and allocated to the 20 departments covered in the NAO report. Additional no-deal funding totalled £1.024 billion, of which £934 million was allocated. The no-deal reserve totalled £1 billion, with £342 million allocated.
Tranche 3 funding to all departments was £1.523 billion. Tranche 4 funding to all departments was £1.984 billion, while urgent-requirements funding totalled £25 million. These funding routes sit alongside the earlier tranches and later no-deal amounts, so they should not be added together unless the scope and overlap of each figure are first established.
Some operational figures show the practical systems being prepared. Operation Brock expenditure was forecast to reach £69 million by the end of 2019–20. HMRC increased transit capacity for lorries to approximately 700. The Home Office’s £283 million infrastructure figure and the £69 million Operation Brock forecast are different measures: one is reported infrastructure spending and the other is a forecast for a named operation.
The government also set aside £2 billion in 2020–21 for additional effort to establish a new relationship with the EU. This is a later provision for additional effort, not part of the same period as the £4.4 billion spent by 31 January 2020. Keeping those dates separate is essential when comparing Brexit spending figures.
Funding routes and unallocated money
The funding structure helps explain why headline totals differ. HM Treasury made £6.3 billion available, but the NAO table recorded £6.252 billion, while the allocation graph showed £5.4 billion of departmental allocations. The data also identify £0.1 billion for devolved administrations and other bodies outside the main departments and £0.7 billion that remained available but unallocated.
The first three named routes were the £412 million initial package, £106 million in tranche 1 funding and £161 million in tranche 2 funding. A £17 million Spring Supplementary adjustment followed. Tranche 3 then provided £1.523 billion, urgent requirements provided £25 million and tranche 4 provided £1.984 billion.
The later no-deal figures distinguish between money available and money allocated. Additional no-deal funding was £1.024 billion, with £934 million allocated. The no-deal reserve was £1 billion, with £342 million allocated. That distinction is why “made available”, “allocated” and “spent” should not be used interchangeably in Brexit spending statistics.
Taken together, the NAO figures show a preparation programme that combined departmental budgets, staff mobilisation, external expertise, infrastructure, public communications and operational contingency planning. The most reliable comparisons keep the measurement date, funding stage and type of figure visible: £6.3 billion made available by 31 March 2020, at least £4.4 billion spent by 31 January 2020, and at least £1.8 billion spent during the April–October 2019 period.