About UKGovScan
UKGovScan is an independent transparency project. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the UK Government.
What we do
We aggregate publicly available data from official government sources including Contracts Finder, the Electoral Commission, Companies House, and Parliament to make it easier for the public to explore how public money is spent and who influences government decisions.
Data sources
All data on this site comes from official public sources. We do not create or modify data — we present it in a more accessible format. While we take care to process data accurately, errors may occur in our calculations or aggregations. If something looks wrong, please check the original source.
Procurement & Spending
- Government Contracts — Contracts Finder and Find a Tender Service (OCDS format), covering 2019–present
- Government Spending — GOV.UK departmental payments over £25,000
- Council Transparency — Individual council-published transaction-level spending data (CSV/XLS)
- Council Budgets — DLUHC revenue expenditure and financial health data
Companies & Donations
- Company Data — Companies House for company details, directors, officers, persons with significant control, and accounts
- Political Donations — Electoral Commission register of donations and loans
- Sanctions — OFSI HM Treasury consolidated sanctions list
Parliament & Lobbying
- MP Profiles — Parliament Members API including committees and ministerial roles
- MP Expenses — IPSA (Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority) spending data, 2010–present
- MP Interests — Register of Members' Financial Interests for employment, gifts, visits, property, shareholdings, and family connections
- MP Staff — IPSA staffing costs and connected party declarations
- Historical Interests — mySociety historical register of interests archive
- Lobbying Register — Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists (ORCL) quarterly returns and register data
Schools & Education
- School Directory — GIAS (Get Information About Schools) for all open UK schools
- School Funding — DfE per-school funding allocations via Explore Education Statistics
- Ofsted — Ofsted school inspection outcomes and ratings
- Pupil Demographics — DfE School Census for ethnicity, free school meals, and headcounts
- Attainment — DfE Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4 (GCSE) performance data
- School Workforce — DfE school staffing, pay, and vacancy data
Foreign Aid
- IATI — IATI Datastore for FCDO project-level data including budgets and disbursements
- OECD — OECD DAC CRS for departmental ODA spending flows and annual statistics
Other
- Crime — Police.uk crime statistics by local authority
- Deprivation — IMD 2019 Index of Multiple Deprivation by local authority
- Benefits — DWP Stat-Xplore for Universal Credit, Housing Benefit, PIP, and JSA caseloads
- Care Providers — Care Quality Commission provider ratings and inspection data
- Public Finances — ONS total managed expenditure, GDP, population, and labour market statistics
Figures such as contract values, donation totals, and aid budgets are calculated from the raw source data and may differ from official statistics due to differences in methodology, date ranges, or data quality. Always check the original source for definitive figures.
Contact
Follow us or get in touch on @UKGovscan on X. If you'd like to request a specific council's transparency data or report an issue, please tag or DM us there.
Open source
This project is built with open data and open standards. We believe transparency in government procurement, political donations, and lobbying is essential for a healthy democracy.
Disclaimer
Data is sourced from public records and may contain errors or omissions. This site does not accuse any individual or entity of wrongdoing. Information is provided for research and educational purposes only.
Lobbying Cross-Reference Methodology
The lobbying influence tracker cross-references registered consultant lobbyists with government contracts and political donations. This is done by matching Companies House numbers:
- Lobbying clients with Companies House numbers are matched to contract suppliers
- Contract values are divided by the number of suppliers on each contract to estimate per-supplier shares
- Political donations are matched using donor company numbers
Important limitations:
- Moderate match rate: ~30% of lobbying clients (1,360 of 4,520) have Companies House numbers for matching
- Correlation, not causation: We show organizations that lobbied AND won contracts, but don't analyze timing or establish causation
- Data coverage: Lobbying data covers Q1 2019 to Q1 2025; contracts from 2019 onwards
- Many legitimate uses: Both lobbying and government contracting are legal activities; many businesses do both