Extreme weather affects U.K. public finances as climate reporting gaps persist
The National Audit Office found that 89% of prisons face high flood risk, with flooding the hazard most often identified in government disclosures.
Extreme weather is measurably affecting Britain’s public finances, but incomplete reporting by government departments makes the extent of the damage difficult to establish, according to the National Audit Office (NAO). Its findings cover risks to services and infrastructure, including healthcare, prisons and railways.
Of the hazards covered in the disclosures it reviewed, flooding appeared most frequently. The watchdog found high flood risk at 89% of prisons, while National Health Service sites recorded 391 instances of flooding between 2024 and 2025.
Heat has damaged roads and railways and made temperatures dangerous in schools and hospitals. The NAO report also linked overheating in prisons to a tendency for violence to increase. Floods are becoming more frequent and causing greater damage to infrastructure.
Larger government departments are now in their first year of having to disclose their climate risks fully. The NAO said many were only beginning to understand their exposure. Its head, Gareth Davies, said Parliament needed clear information about infrastructure, services and finances, alongside details of how climate risks were being managed.
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, who chairs Parliament’s Committee of Public Accounts, called for meaningful government targets. He welcomed better reporting but said lawmakers and the public also needed evidence of the government’s readiness to handle the risks.
