UK Infrastructure: A 10 Year Strategy
Overview
Published 19 June 2025 by HM Treasury and the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA). Sets out the government’s long-term plan for economic, housing, and social infrastructure to drive growth and boost living standards. The strategy supersedes the National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline 2023 (which covered 660 projects, £164bn to 2025).
The working paper (January 2025) established the rationale: uncertainty about infrastructure plans had inhibited investment in programmes and supply chains, pushing up costs. The strategy provides a 10-year horizon of certainty.
Strategic intent
Problem: UK infrastructure investment has been too erratic and too low, hampering productivity and wages and making delivery slow and costly. Insufficient coordination across sectors and between government and industry.
Theory of change: Long-term certainty → private and public investment → productivity gains → GDP growth and improved public services. Aligns with Industrial Strategy and clean energy missions.
Scope: Economic, housing, and social infrastructure across all UK nations. Coordinated with National Wealth Fund for private co-investment.
Key commitments
- hmt-725bn-infra-decade — At least £725 billion government funding over the coming decade; owner: HMT; no single end date
- hmt-infra-hospital-6bn — Over £6bn annually for safer hospital environments
- hmt-infra-schools-3bn — £3bn annually for school and college learning environment transformation
- hmt-infra-prisons-600m — £600m yearly for prison and justice sector security improvements
- hmt-780-pipeline — 780 projects in Infrastructure Pipeline (public and private); published alongside NISTA Annual Report
Outcomes claimed
- economic-growth-gdp — Infrastructure investment as central to growth mission
- dhsc-nhs-18-week-92pct — Hospital capital included in annual commitments; 18-week wait target
- housing-1-5-million — Housing infrastructure enabled through pipeline
Delivery oversight: NISTA Annual Report 2024-25
NISTA oversees the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP). As of March 2025:
| Rating | Count | % | Whole Life Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green | 30 | 14% | — |
| Amber | 135 | 63% | — |
| Red | 31 | 15% | £198 billion |
| Exempt | 17 | 8% | — |
| Total | 213 | £996 billion |
Red-rated projects increased from 27 to 31 between 2023-24 and 2024-25. Average cost of remaining projects rose from £4.0bn to £4.4bn whole life cost. 29 projects left GMPP: 14 successful deliveries, 7 no longer meeting criteria, 6 early closures.
Top departments by project count: MOD (47), Home Office (21), DESNZ (20), DfT (19).
Assumptions and risks
- Assumes private sector responds to long-term certainty with co-investment — not yet evidenced at scale
- Delivery confidence ratings (15% red, 63% amber) suggest systemic delivery risk across the portfolio
- Supply chain and skills capacity constraints acknowledged in working paper but not fully quantified
- Coordination across sectors depends on NISTA functioning effectively as a cross-government body (created Autumn 2024 by merging NIC and IPA — new and untested at scale)
Tensions flagged
- delivery-confidence-fiscal-ambition — Red-rated project count rising while fiscal plans assume efficient £725bn delivery; £198bn in whole-life costs sits in red-rated projects
- planning-timelines-2030-targets — NSIP pre-application timelines doubled to 27 months (2021 baseline); Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 (Royal Assent Dec 2025) needed to fix this, but its implementation is still early
Source files
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