According to the report from Office for National Statistics, public sector net borrowing in the UK is estimated to have been £28.0 billion in March 2021, £21.0 billion more than in March 2020, above forecasts of £22.5 billion. It is the highest March borrowing since monthly records began in 1993. 

Public sector net borrowing in the financial year-to-March 2021 is estimated to have been £303.1 billion, £246.1 billion more than in the same period of 2020 and the highest nominal public sector borrowing in any financial year since records began in 1947. 

Expressed as a ratio of gross domestic product (GDP), public sector net borrowing (excluding public sector banks, PSNB ex) in the FYE March 2021 was 14.5%, the highest such ratio since the end of World War Two, when in FYE March 1946 it was 15.2%.

Public sector net borrowing (excluding public sector banks, PSNB ex) in the FYE March 2021 is estimated to have been £24.3 billion less than the £327.4 billion expected by the Office for Budget Responsibility in their Economic and Fiscal outlook – March 2021 on a like for like basis.