Last update: December 2025
This blog looks to explain the Barnett formula and provides data on the money that the Scottish Government receives through the mechanism after each UK Government fiscal event, such as a Budget, Autumn statement or spending review.
This blog is part of SPICe’s What is? animation series which aims to provide information on a variety of topics.
The Barnett formula
The Barnett formula is a mechanism used to determine what resources are allocated to the devolved administrations. This happens when the UK Government changes spending in areas that are devolved, such as health or education. The following animation outlines how the Barnett formula works.
The data
This section provides data on the money the Scottish Government has received at each fiscal event since (and including) the 2021 Spending review. The data is provided to SPICe by the Scottish Government after each major fiscal event.
The following tool allows you to see what money was added or subtracted from the Scottish budget after each fiscal event. It allows you to breakdown the information by UK Government Department.
This tool currently provides details on all Barnett consequentials since the 2021 Spending Review. The 2025 Spending Review set out new baselines for the next Spending Review period and future Barnett consequentials will be presented relative to these new baselines.
The UK government also publishes data in its block grant transparency reports, the latest of which is currently for July 2023, so does not include more recent fiscal events, such as the Autumn 2023 budget.
Data updated: 4 March 2026
Andrew Aiton, Data visualisation manager, SPICe