The UK government borrowed £16 billion in June 2026, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported on 21 July 2026. That was £7.9 billion — or 33% — less than the same month a year earlier, and slightly below what forecasters had expected.

"Borrowing" here means the government spent more than it took in through taxes and other income, and had to make up the difference by borrowing — much like a household dipping into an overdraft.

The ONS said the fall was mainly down to two things: the government took in more money, and its costs were slightly lower. The biggest saving came from paying less interest on its debts, because inflation — which pushes up the cost of some government borrowing — had eased.

The picture was very different in May 2026, when borrowing hit £23.3 billion — £5.4 billion higher than in May 2025. Interest on government debt reached £11.7 billion that month, the highest ever recorded for May. So June's improvement came after a particularly expensive month.

The government was expected to borrow £115.5 billion across the whole of the 2026/27 financial year. That works out to about 3.6% of the size of the UK economy, down from 4.3% the previous year.

Despite the better June figures, the UK still owes a lot of money. Total public sector debt — the amount the government has borrowed and not yet paid back — stood at £2,989.9 billion in June 2026. That is nearly 95% of GDP, a measure of everything the UK produces in a year.

Separate ONS figures, published the same day, showed the unemployment rate was unchanged between March and May 2026. The ONS described the labour market as "relatively steady."

The broader context here is that one good month does not change the overall picture. June's fall in borrowing was welcome, but it was largely driven by lower inflation reducing the cost of certain government debts — not by the government cutting spending or raising taxes in a lasting way. With debt at nearly 95% of the economy's annual output, June's figures give the Treasury only a little extra breathing room.

The contrast between May and June also shows why it is hard to judge long-term trends from a single month. The next set of borrowing figures, covering July 2026, is due on 21 August 2026.

No HM Treasury press release or commentary on the June figures had been identified at the time of publication. The Treasury published a companion bulletin for the May release; no equivalent document for June appeared in the search results.