OBJECTIVES:  Estimates for the prevalence of chronic heart failure (CHF) indicate that up to 0.9 million people in the UK may be affected. The objective was to understand the resource use associated with CHF in the UK by performing a systematic review. METHODS:  Electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, NHS Economic Evaluation Database and Econlit) were searched in June 2015 for direct and indirect costs. Conference proceedings and reference lists of included publications were hand-searched. Included studies had to report on direct costs, hospitalisations or resource use in patients with CHF in the UK; no other restrictions were applied. RESULTS:  The search for indirect costs identified no eligible publications. The direct cost search resulted in 16,024 hits. Of these, after removal of duplicates, screening abstract and title, and screening the full text, six studies (seven publications) fulfilled the eligibility criteria. Five of the identified studies were published between 1992 and 2002. Only one study was more recent (two publications, in 2013 and 2014), but focussed primarily on comorbid disease pairs and the impact of socio-economic status on the costs of emergency department use (£120/patient over three years) and hospital inpatient cost (£3,877/patient over three years). Earlier (1990/1995) data indicate that approximately 1–1.83% of the NHS budget was spent on HF. Hospital admissions are universally considered as a key cost driver associated with CHF. In a study from 1997/1998, approximately 5% of hospital admissions were due to HF. CONCLUSIONS:  Data on the resource use associated with CHF are limited and largely outdated; these indicate that hospital admissions/stays are the key cost driver and that the costs of CHF to the National Health Service (NHS) are likely to be substantial. Additional research is needed to determine the current resource use associated with CHF and cost implication of this to the NHS.