How to Make Our Money Work Better in England for the Taxpayer: A Blueprint from Europe

The British taxpayer is locked in an expensive paradox. We are frequently told that public funds are depleted, yet we pay a similar share of our national income into health, education, and infrastructure as our Western European neighbours [OECD data, 2025].

The problem is not necessarily how much money we raise, but how inefficiently we spend it. Due to systemic capital starvation, outdated planning laws, and fragmented funding models, England faces an average 65% infrastructure cost premium compared to the continent [Centre for British Progress]. Every £1 spent on British public projects buys just 60p worth of what it would in Europe.

By shifting from our current “crisis-management” model to the structural practices of France, Germany, and the Netherlands, the UK Treasury could unlock up to £48 billion in annual budget efficiencies and cash savings. Here is how we can make our money work better.

 

The £48 Billion Efficiency Dividend

If England overhauled its public systems to match European benchmarks, the structural savings and value created across five key areas would reshape the national balance sheet:

Total Annual Efficiency Potential: ~£48 Billion

  • Housing Benefit Subsidies: £12.0bn – £15.0bn (Direct Cash Saving)
  • Higher Education Restructure: £10.0bn – £12.0bn (Asset Realignment)
  • Physical Infrastructure: £8.3bn (Extra Asset Value)
  • Healthcare Operations: £5.0bn – £7.0bn (Direct Cash Saving)
  • Adult Social Care Reform: £4.0bn – £6.0bn (Systemic NHS Savings)

 

 

1. Reforming Infrastructure Planning (Value Unlocked: £8.3 Billion)

The UK outspends European peers on transport but delivers significantly fewer physical assets. HS2 Phase 1 cost an astronomical £396 million per mile, compared to France’s Paris-Strasbourg line which cost just £31 million per mile.

* The Problem: Sclerotic planning processes, NIMBY litigation, and constant mid-project design changes add 15 months to pre-construction phases compared to European peers.

* The European Lesson: England should adopt the zone-based planning laws used in France and Germany. Once a zone is designated for development, local vetoes and endless legal appeals are blocked.

* The Taxpayer Return: This would not cut the budget, but it would eliminate £8.3 billion in annual waste [Britain Remade]. Taxpayers would receive £41.5 billion worth of extra roads, rail, and clean energy assets over a five-year parliament for the exact same spend.

 

2. Investing in Social Housing to Cut Welfare (Cash Saved: £12 Billion – £15 Billion)

The UK spends £37.3 billion annually on Housing Benefit. Simultaneously, chronic NHS waiting lists have driven long-term sickness and disability claims to a European high of 2.6% of GDP.

* The Problem: Decades of under-investment in state-owned housing mean the government must subsidise expensive private landlords to house low-income families.

* The European Lesson: Follow the Dutch and Austrian models, where the state drives long-term social housing investment. This stabilises the broader rental market and reduces reliance on private sector subsidies.

* The Taxpayer Return: Lowering the housing benefit bill to the Eurozone average and reducing disability caseloads through swifter healthcare interventions would remove £12 billion to £15 billion in direct cash expenditure from the welfare budget.

 

3. Ending the NHS “Locum Drain” (Cash Saved: £5 Billion – £7 Billion)

While the NHS is highly efficient at keeping administrative costs low, it severely under-invests in capital equipment. The UK has just 7.6 MRI scanners per million people, compared to 36.3 in Germany and 45.2 in the Netherlands [OECD data, 2025].

* The Problem: A lack of diagnostic hardware slows down treatment, keeping patients sick for longer. Combined with staff retention issues, hospitals are forced to use hyper-expensive private nursing agencies and locum doctors to meet basic demand.

* The European Lesson: Replicate French and German levels of preventative diagnostic hardware and long-term domestic workforce planning to stabilize staff numbers.

* The Taxpayer Return: Eradicating the structural reliance on emergency agency staff would claw back £5 billion to £7 billion annually in operational healthcare costs, allowing doctors to treat patients faster.

 

4. Resolving Adult Social Care “Bed-Blocking” (Systemic NHS Savings: £4 Billion – £6 Billion)

Unlike the NHS, adult social care in England is not free at the point of use. It is means-tested and funded by cash-strapped local councils, leading to severe fragmentation.

* The Problem: Thousands of elderly patients are trapped in acute hospital beds because there is no social care space available in the community to safely discharge them into. This “bed-blocking” costs the NHS billions in operational bottlenecks.

* The European Lesson: Implement the German National Care Insurance model (Pflegeversicherung). This is a dedicated, ring-fenced social security fund completely separate from local council budgets that guarantees social care funding for all citizens.

* The Taxpayer Return: Overhauling social care would trigger £4 billion to £6 billion in structural savings for the core NHS budget by freeing up ward space, reducing emergency wait times, and smoothing hospital handovers.

 

5. Streamlining Higher Education Costs (Value Realignment: £10 Billion – £12 Billion)

The UK spends roughly £13,063 per primary and secondary student, achieving strong academic outcomes for a relatively modest investment. However, its higher education system is hyper-expensive.

 

* The Problem: Total spending per university student in the UK stands at £35,350—among the highest in the world and 65% above the OECD average [Education at a Glance]. The UK government pays 48% less than the OECD average per student, shifting the massive cost onto graduates via high tuition fees and a heavily subsidized student loan book.

* The European Lesson: Look to the Franco-German model, where universities operate with streamlined administrative overheads and run at roughly half the unit cost of the UK system.

* The Taxpayer Return: Rationalising the high unit costs of university delivery would allow for a £10 billion to £12 billion structural reshuffle, reducing the long-term debt burden on both the state and young graduates.

The Upfront Capital Catch

To unlock these massive savings, the UK Treasury must confront a difficult economic reality: you have to spend money to save money.

To achieve the low operational costs enjoyed by our European neighbours, England must first invest heavily in upfront capital. We cannot save billions on locum doctors without buying MRI scanners first. We cannot slash the housing benefit bill without first building state-owned social housing.

If we want our money to work better, the British taxpayer needs a government willing to abandon short-term crisis fixes and invest in long-term, European-style .