Exceptional Financial Support for local authorities
Details of support granted to local authorities that have requested Exceptional Financial Support.
The government is under no illusions about the scale of financial issues facing councils and is committed to restoring stability and bringing forward reform to ensure local government is fit, legal and decent and can play its critical role in providing the services communities rely on.
Reform will take time however and there is potential for continued instability as we work to fix the foundations of local government. That is why we confirmed in November 2024 that there will continue to be a framework in place to support councils in the most difficult positions. The government has been clear that while we will continue to expect councils to make sure they are doing all they can locally to deliver for residents, this process will be collaborative and supportive of councils
On 20 February 2025, the government confirmed Exceptional Financial Support for councils who made a request for financial assistance to handle pressures that they considered unmanageable and to enable them to set balanced budgets. The support is provided on an exceptional basis, and where relevant, on the condition that a local authority may be subject to an external assurance review.
A full summary of the support agreed with authorities to date is provided in the links below, broken down by year decisions have been taken. Where relevant these links also include copies of the published assurance reviews and other related material.
Due to the nature of council finances, requests under the Exceptional Financial Support framework can relate to prior financial years. Councils can also request to amend the profile of support provided in prior years. The presentation of decisions on Exceptional Financial Support in the following pages reflects the point at which requests were agreed and pages for each year have been updated to show the most recent decisions.
Collection
Updates to this page
Published 29 February 2024Last updated 20 February 2025 + show all updates
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Added Exceptional Financial Support for local authorities for 2025-26.
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First published.