The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is an independent public body created in 2010 that provides authoritative analysis of the UK's public finances. Funded by the UK Treasury, it operates as a non-departmental organization that delivers impartial economic forecasts and fiscal assessments.

Main Functions

The OBR has five primary responsibilities:

• Economic and fiscal forecasting : Produces five-year forecasts twice annually to accompany the Autumn Budget and Spring Statement

• Target evaluation : Assesses whether the government has greater than 50% probability of meeting its fiscal targets under current policy

• Long-term sustainability analysis : Reviews the public sector's balance sheet and projects long-term spending, revenue, and debt sustainability

• Fiscal risk assessment : Evaluates risks from the economy, financial system, tax revenues, and public spending (required at least every two years since 2015)

• Policy costing scrutiny : Examines the Treasury's costings of tax and welfare spending measures to ensure they are reasonable estimates

Structure and Independence

The OBR is led by three members of the Budget Responsibility Committee who are appointed by the Chancellor of Exchequer following a Treasury Select Committee hearing. The current chair is Richard Hughes, who has served since October 2020. The organization must perform its duties objectively, transparently, and independently under the Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act 2011, which placed it on statutory footing.