Activos fijos

2014-15 £bn

2013-14

restated £bn

Fees, levies and charges 13.2 12.2

Rental revenue from local government housing 8.5 8.2

EU income 5.6 4.7

Pension scheme employee contribution income 8.3 7.7

Pension scheme employer contribution income 2.4 1.4

Private sector contributions to local services 2.6 2.4

Licence income 1.5 1.5

Charitable income 1.4 2.7

Deferred income 1.4 1.6

Miscellaneous operating revenue 14.3 15.7

Other revenue 59.2 58.1

Fees and charges reflect the full cost of services being provided. Levies relate to licences for operating and using public goods, and are charged by statutory regulators or to support industry specific research foundations. Levies were usually set to recover associated costs, such as costs of supervision by a regulator. For UK heavy goods vehicles, Vehicle Excise Duty, a tax, has been replaced by the HGV Road User Levy and this has led to an increase of £0.2 billion in fees, levies and charges but a

corresponding reduction in the Excise Duty income listed in Note 3. Fine income collected by the Financial Conduct Authority and newly established Prudential Regulation Authority increased by £1.0 billion to £1.4 billion (2013-14: £0.4 billion) primarily from fines imposed on banks for foreign exchange misconduct.

EU income was funding received by WGA entities for projects supported wholly or partly by the EU. Much of this funding was passed onto third parties, including agricultural subsidies payments to farmers. These grant payments and the contributions paid to the EU, as part of the UK’s obligations as a member state, are disclosed in Note 9.

Charitable income included revenue related to private sector academies of £0.6 billion (2013-14: £0.9 billion).

Pension scheme employer and employee contribution income is the contribution income recognised in the underlying accounts of pension schemes, predominantly the NHS Pension Scheme, Teachers’ Pension Scheme and the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme. The majority of employer

contribution income was eliminated against the employer contribution expense, as most employer entities in these schemes are entities within WGA. The pre-eliminated balance was £15.3 billion (2013-14: £15.4 billion).

The remaining balance related to employers that participate in these schemes, but were outside the WGA boundary. Examples included GPs and charity hospices that contributed to the NHS pension scheme; higher and further education institutions and independent teaching establishments that contributed to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme; and non-WGA entities such as the National Audit Office (NAO), Welsh Audit Office, Electoral Commission and some minor entities that contribute to the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme.

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Miscellaneous operating income include various types of income across a wide range of public sector entities. The largest components include £1.9 billion (2013-14: £1.6 billion) recognised by the Department for Transport from train operating companies in relation to franchise agreements, £0.6 billion (2013-14: £0.5 billion) income for issuing coinage and the surplus revenue from the Crown Estate and £0.3 billion (2013-14: £0.4 billon) relating to sales of the East Village Olympic Site. A further £0.2 billion (2013-14: £1.0 billion) was received in relation to Coal Pension receipts. The government provided certain guarantees in relation to the pension scheme as part of the

privatisation of the British Coal Corporation in 1994, which means that the government is entitled to a portion of any periodic valuation surpluses. An exceptional valuation was undertaken in March 2013 and an additional payment of £0.5 billion (2013-14: £0.7 billion) was subsequently paid to the government in 2014-15.

Miscellaneous operating income also included income received by entities within the National Health Service for education, training, research and development. Further details can be found in the 2014- 15 Department of Health accounts.4

Note 6. Social security benefits

2014-15

£bn

2013-14

£bn

State retirement pension 88.6 85.0

Local government housing and other benefits 27.6 27.3

Tax credits 31.1 30.9

Disability Living Allowance 16.4 15.6

Child Benefit 11.6 11.5

Job Seeker’s Allowance 3.2 4.5

Employment Support Allowance 13.4 10.9

State pension credit 6.7 7.3

Income Support 3.3 4.0

Attendance Allowance 5.6 5.5

Incapacity Benefit 0.3 1.3

Carer’s Allowance 2.4 2.2

Other benefits 7.5 7.4

Total cost of benefits 217.7 213.4

Social security benefits are legal entitlements payable to private individuals and households, most of these are included in the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992.

The state retirement pension is the pension paid to the public. This has increased due to annual uprating and an increase in the volume of claimants, reflecting the ageing population. Pension payments to former public sector employees are shown in Note 26.

Jobseeker’s Allowance expenditure has fallen due to fewer claimants and an increase in Universal Credit claims. The increase in Employment Support Allowance is largely offset by decreases in other benefits (such as Income Support and Incapacity Benefit), reflecting benefit reforms. In 2014-15, Personal Independence Payments (PIP) of £1.6 billion are included in the Disability Allowance line.

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In 2013-14, PIP of £0.1 billion was included in Other Benefits. PIP is increasing as it replaces the Disability Living Allowance.

The majority of social security benefits are paid by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). In Northern Ireland, these payments, together with the payment of Housing Benefit, are the

responsibility of the Department for Social Development (DSD). The 2014-15 accounts of both these departments received qualified opinions on the regularity of benefit expenditure due to fraud and error in benefit payments (both of these qualifications excluded state pension payments). Further information is available in the 2014-15 accounts of each department, which are available on their respective websites.5

Tax credits and child benefits are administered by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Tax credits include adjustments to Income Tax as well as direct benefit payments. The HMRC accounts received a qualified opinion on regularity of personal tax credits because no estimate of the total level of fraud and error in 2014-15 was available, and the most recent estimate available indicates a material level of fraud and error. This meant that the National Audit Office was unable to confirm that personal tax credit awards were in conformity with the Tax Credits Act 2002.

Note 7. Staff costs and numbers