Over £69 billion confirmed for council budgets in England

The UK Government has confirmed more than £69 billion in funding for England’s councils in its final settlement.

The ‘Final local government finance settlement: England, 2025 to 2026’ represents a 6.8 percent cash terms increase in councils’ Core Spending Power compared to 2024-2025. This page provides details of funding allocations for individual councils.

It follows on from the government’s provisional settlement, which was published in December 2024.

Importantly, the government is providing up to £3.7 billion additional funding to social care authorities to deliver crucial social care services to those who need it. This includes an £880 million uplift to the Social Care Grant, compared to 2024-25.

In addition, £270 million was confirmed for the Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant, and £60 million has been confirmed to fund long-term improvements to the local government sector over the next year.

The government has maintained the five percent referendum principles on council tax increases, which is the same level set by the previous administration.

Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, said: “Councils deliver vital services across the country – driving growth and local economies and providing a lifeline for those that need it most.

“Through our Plan for Change we are determined to fix the foundations of local government; investing where it is needed, trusting local leaders and working together to deliver growth, better health and social care services and the affordable homes people need.”

The government has also introduced a stricter approach to the inherited arrangements that allowed councils to request higher council tax increases if they need Exceptional Financial Support and see increases as critical to maintaining their financial sustainability.

This approach puts taxpayers at the forefront, according to the government, for example by only agreeing increases where councils are amongst the lowest existing levels for tax. Taxpayers in these areas are still expected to be paying less than the average council tax compared to similar councils.

This approach has limited the number and scale of additional increases, with the government not agreeing where councils have asked to increase council tax by a very high amount or by high amounts in successive years.

Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution, Jim McMahon OBE, added: “We have been clear we will fix the foundations of local government. That means an end to short-term solutions and instead rebuilding the sector to put councils on a more stable and secure footing.

“Local leaders play a crucial role in delivering the day-to-day services communities across the country rely on, which is why we want to work with them towards a fairer funding model that tackles regional inequality and prioritises outcomes for local people.”

For the first time, a new £600 million Recovery Grant is part of the final settlement, which will help support places most in need, which maximises public spending to ensure it delivers more meaningful outcomes.