Environmental quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations (quangos) are a large part of Britain’s regulatory and administrative landscape. Operating at arm’s length from ministers, they oversee the natural environment, waterways, fisheries, forestry and the marine environment, with their responsibilities spanning nature conservation, environmental enforcement, economic regulation and scientific research. In recent years, their size and influence have grown considerably, reflecting an ongoing expansion of the regulatory state. In September 2025, the chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, instructed ministers to reduce the number of green quangos under the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), with a review of arm’s length bodies announced amid growing concern about their cost, accountability and impact on economic growth.[1]
Defra is responsible for over 34 arm’s length bodies, spanning executive agencies, non-departmental public bodies and advisory committees.[2] These bodies are sustained by significant budgets, with resources allocated to staffing, enforcement, grant-making and scientific activities. Rising expenditure, staff costs and headcounts highlight the scale of their operations. Their costs ultimately fall on taxpayers and consumers, through direct government funding or, in the case of Ofwat, through charges passed on through household water bills.
This note examines the growth of nine major environmental quangos between 2015-16 and 2024-25: Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), Environment Agency, Forest Research, Forestry Commission, Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), Marine Management Organisation (MMO), Natural England, Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) and Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat). Using figures from the respective annual accounts for each organisation, it tracks changes in income, expenditure, staff numbers and staff costs over the period. The note does not examine the full breadth of Defra’s arm’s length bodies; in particular, agricultural quangos such as the Rural Payments Agency have not been included.
The period under examination has seen significant legislative and institutional change. The Environment Act 2021 created substantial new duties for several of the bodies examined and established the Office for Environmental Protection as a new independent body to hold government and public bodies to account on their environmental obligations.[3] In July 2025, the government announced further changes to the water regulatory landscape, with Ofwat to be abolished and its functions merged with water functions across the Environment Agency, Natural England and the Drinking Water Inspectorate to form a single new regulator.[4]
Key findings
- The total number of full-time equivalent staff across nine environmental quangos increased by 34 per cent, a nominal increase of 4,912 between 2015-16 and 2024-25.[5] The total number across all nine bodies was 19,196 in 2024-25.
- The combined total income of the nine quangos more than doubled between 2015-16 and 2024-25, rising from £1.5 billion to £3.1 billion, an increase of £1.7 billion or 111 per cent. Over the same period, combined expenditure rose from £1.6 billion to £2.9 billion, an increase of 88 per cent.
- Between 2015-16 and 2024-25, the Environment Agency’s total income rose from £1.2 billion to £2.3 billion, an increase of £1.2 billion. This is the largest cash terms increase among the quangos examined, and a rise of 101 per cent.
- Forest Research had the largest percentage increase in total income between 2015-16 and 2024-25, rising by 248 per cent. In cash terms, income rose from £12.6 million to £43.9 million. Its staff numbers grew by 136 per cent over the same period, from 178 to 420 staff, the largest percentage increase of any body examined in this note.
- The Environment Agency had the largest increase in expenditure in cash terms, increasing by £899 million, or 74 per cent, from £1.2 billion to £2.1 billion between 2015-16 and 2024-25.
- Forest Research had the largest percentage increase in expenditure between 2015-16 and 2024-25, rising by 251 per cent. In cash terms, expenditure rose from £12.7 million to £44.6 million.
- The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science had the smallest percentage increase in expenditure between 2015-16 and 2024-25, rising by 72 per cent. In cash terms, expenditure rose from £46.6 million to £80.1 million.
- The Environment Agency had the largest increase in staff, with 3,048 employees added between 2015-16 and 2024-25. Staff numbers rose from 10,283 to 13,331, a rise of 30 per cent.
- The Office for Environmental Protection did not exist in 2015-16, having been established under the Environment Act in 2021. By 2024-25 it received £10.4 million in funding from its sponsoring departments and employed 79 members of staff.
- Natural England saw its income fall between 2015-16 and 2020-21 before rising by 198 per cent between 2020-21 and 2024-25, driven by new duties under the Environment Act 2021. Its total income rose from £129.6 million to £319 million over the full period, a 146 per cent increase.
- Ofwat, which funds itself primarily through licence fees on water companies, saw its income rise by 173 per cent from £22.9 million to £62.6 million between 2015-16 and 2024-25, with staff costs rising by 207 per cent over the same period.
- Staff costs across all the bodies examined have grown significantly faster than staff numbers. The Marine Management Organisation added 91 per cent more staff but saw its staff costs rise by 154 per cent; Ofwat more than doubled its headcount but saw staff costs triple in the same period. Across all bodies combined, total staff costs rose from £597 million to over £1 billion between 2015-16 and 2024-25, an increase of 72 per cent.
[1] Wright, O., Slash number of green quangos, Rachel Reeves tells ministers, The Times, 14 September 2025.
[2] Gov.uk, Departments, agencies and public bodies, www.gov.uk/government/organisations (accessed 18 May 2026).
[3] Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, World-leading Environment Act becomes law, Gov.uk, 10 November 2021, www.gov.uk/government/news/world-leading-environment-act-becomes-law (accessed 18 May 2026).
[4] Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Ofwat to be abolished in biggest overhaul of water since privatisation, Gov.uk, 21 July 2025, www.gov.uk/government/news/ofwat-to-be-abolished-in-biggest-overhaul-of-water-since-privatisation (accessed 18 May 2026).
[5] Staff numbers are presented in full-time equivalent (FTE) throughout this note.
