UKRI budget allocation confirmed

Close up shot of a man holding a clipboard with charts and a pen

Today, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Kwasi Kwarteng has confirmed UKRI’s detailed three-year budget allocations.

Based on the advice of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Board, the allocations set out how we will invest £25 billion in world-class research and innovation. This world-class research and innovation will deliver benefits for communities across the UK.

UKRI’s overall budget was set as part of the 2021 Spending Review and rises from £7,904 million in 2022 to 2023, to £8,874 million in 2024 to 2025.

Please read our budget allocation explainer for full detail.

Our process map gives an overview of how our budget and allocations are set.

Increasing UKRI budget

UKRI Chief Executive, Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser said:

The research and innovation mission is critical to the prosperity of the UK, enriching lives locally, nationally and globally.

Research and innovation underpin the creation of high-quality jobs and public services and are key in tackling the many challenges we face, from achieving sustainable and affordable energy to improving life-long health and wellbeing.

The importance of research and innovation to the future of the UK is reflected in UKRI’s increasing budget at a time of significant pressure on public finances.

Delivering our strategy

The settlement is a multi-year budget for all parts of UKRI for the first time and gives us security and stability to deliver our five-year UKRI strategy.

We will achieve this through working in partnership with communities across the research, innovation and business sectors and through wider engagement with the public.

Improving as an organisation

Professor Leyser added:

We have set out in our five-year strategy how we will align incentives and investments to support the very best ideas, talented people and teams, and places across the UK, to build a positive research and innovation culture that delivers impact.

We will ensure that we continuously improve as an organisation, allowing us to support research and innovation communities across the UK in an agile and efficient way.

We will invest in a diverse and balanced portfolio, coordinating across our budgets to ensure the UK’s outstanding research and innovation system creates and captures opportunities and drives economic, social, environmental and cultural benefits for all.

Turning allocation into delivery

Our council strategic delivery plans will be launched this autumn and will build on our budget allocation and strategy.

Complemented by a new corporate plan, they will provide more detail on delivery activities across UKRI and across all regions and nations of the UK.

Please read the UKRI budget process for an overview of the budget process.

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