05 October 2021

Following publication on 21 September 2021, an error has been found in the Public Sector Finances (PSF): August 2021 release. The error affects data for the period April 2020 to August 2021 inclusive.

Public Sector Net Borrowing (excluding Public Sector Banks – PSNB ex) was overstated by £4.6 billion in the financial year ending March 2021 and £2.5 billion in the financial year-to-August 2021. PSNB is now estimated to have been £320.5 billion in the financial year ending March 2021 and £91.3 billion in the financial year-to-August 2021.

This error was the result of provisional data for the Public Sector Funded Pension Schemes being used in the estimation of the published dataset.

In September 2021, we changed the discount rate used for future pension liabilities from 5% to 4%, taking on a change in international statistical standards. However, in the provisional dataset, the data for April 2020 onwards for these public sector schemes was estimated using the 5% discount rate. In the corrected version, this had been updated, consistent with the 4% rate.

Correcting this error has affected Public Sector Funded Pension Schemes’ net borrowing and so Public Sector Net Borrowing. There has been no impact on net cash requirement or net debt as a result of this correction.

ONS apologises for any inconvenience caused by this error.