ONS public sector finances, 22 September 2026: public sector net debt excluding public sector banks was provisionally £2,985.5bn at the end of August 2026, below £2,994.8bn.
The market resolves on public sector net debt excluding public sector banks for end-August 2026 as first published in the ONS public sector finances bulletin at 7am on 22 September 2026; YES if above £2,994.8bn. First-published figure governs; revisions to June or August do not reopen. If that source has not published in time, BBC News and Reuters reports of the release settle it.
UK public debt has fallen from a record 62 times since 1993. We used the official monthly ONS figures and took every month when debt fell from its highest level so far, as it did this July. Then we checked whether the next month set a new record. It did in 22 of the 62, and in four of the last eight. The eight most recent are shown below.