Downloads (and caches) the OBR Welfare Trends Report charts and tables workbook and returns annual working-age welfare spending as a share of GDP, split into incapacity-related and non-incapacity spending.
Value
An obr_tbl with the standard v0.4.0 schema (columns:
period, period_type, series, metric_type, value, unit).
Values are spending as a percentage of GDP; metric_type is "pct",
unit is "pct".
Details
Data cover fiscal years from 1978-79 through the current forecast horizon. The exact vintage is recorded in the returned object's provenance.
See also
Other welfare:
get_incapacity_caseloads(),
get_incapacity_spending()
Examples
# \donttest{
op <- options(obr.cache_dir = tempdir())
welfare <- get_welfare_spending()
#> Warning: Could not resolve a current Welfare Trends Report URL from 9 candidates.
#> ℹ Falling back to
#> <https://obr.uk/download/welfare-trends-report-october-2024-charts-and-tables/>.
#> ! Returned data may be older than expected. Run with internet access, or pin a
#> vintage explicitly when that feature ships.
#> ℹ Loading from cache. Use `refresh = TRUE` to re-download.
welfare[welfare$series == "Working-age incapacity benefits spending" &
welfare$period >= "2000-01", ]
#> # obr_tbl: 29 rows x 6 cols
#> # Source: OBR Welfare Trends Report, October 2024
#> # URL: https://obr.uk/download/welfare-trends-report-october-2024-charts-and-tables/
#> # Retrieved: 2026-05-07 21:08:49 UTC
#> # File MD5: c587017c08a1
#> # Package: obr 0.5.0
#>
#> period period_type series metric_type
#> 23 2000-01 fiscal_year Working-age incapacity benefits spending level
#> 24 2001-02 fiscal_year Working-age incapacity benefits spending level
#> 25 2002-03 fiscal_year Working-age incapacity benefits spending level
#> 26 2003-04 fiscal_year Working-age incapacity benefits spending level
#> 27 2004-05 fiscal_year Working-age incapacity benefits spending level
#> 28 2005-06 fiscal_year Working-age incapacity benefits spending level
#> 29 2006-07 fiscal_year Working-age incapacity benefits spending level
#> 30 2007-08 fiscal_year Working-age incapacity benefits spending level
#> 31 2008-09 fiscal_year Working-age incapacity benefits spending level
#> 32 2009-10 fiscal_year Working-age incapacity benefits spending level
#> value unit
#> 23 1.0914588 pct
#> 24 1.0812179 pct
#> 25 1.0345429 pct
#> 26 0.9930008 pct
#> 27 0.9203422 pct
#> 28 0.8546259 pct
#> 29 0.8089978 pct
#> 30 0.8035180 pct
#> 31 0.7741892 pct
#> 32 0.7877039 pct
#> # ... with 19 more rows
options(op)
# }