Highways maintenance block: formula allocations 2025 to 2026
Updated 20 December 2024
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2024
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Allocations summary
The Autumn 2024 Budget announced nearly £1.6 billion in capital funding for local highways maintenance in England for the financial year 2025 to 2026. This includes £500 million of additional funding when compared to funding levels for 2024 to 2025.
As set out on page 94 of the Budget 2024:
Baseline funding for highways maintenance in 2024-25 is made up of the following funding pots: Highways Maintenance Block (HMB) needs, Highways Maintenance Block (HMB) incentive, Potholes funding, 2024 to 2025 Network North Uplift. The baseline does not include the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements equivalent levels in the HMB and Potholes funding pots.
HMB allocations are calculated based on the existing highways maintenance formula. Figures are then rounded.
The Department for Transport (DfT) will introduce a new incentive element in 2025 to 2026 to ensure that best practice in sustainable highways asset management is followed. 25% of the funding uplift will be held back until local authorities can prove that they are meeting certain criteria, further details of which will be shared with local authorities in due course.
Funding for highway maintenance beyond 2025 to 2026 is a matter for Spending Review in spring 2025.
Highways maintenance and investment policy
DfT allocates capital funding to local highways authorities so they can most effectively spend this funding on maintaining and improving their respective network, based upon their local knowledge, circumstances and priorities.
DfT strongly advocates a risk-based whole life cycle asset management approach to local authority highways maintenance programmes. This considers all parts of the highway network, such as bridges, cycleways and lighting columns – not just the fixing of potholes.
It is up to the respective highway authority how best to spend this funding to fulfil their statutory duty under section 41 of the Highways Act 1980.
Further information and best practice is available in the Well-managed highway infrastructure code of practice.
City region sustainable transport settlements (CRSTS)
8 Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) receive City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS) for 5 years between 2022 to 2023 to 2026 to 2027.
CRSTS consolidates transport capital funding allocations, including allocation of highways maintenance, so are not included in the baseline column.
Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) will receive an integrated settlement from government starting from 2025, into which CRSTS will be consolidated. Therefore, GMCA’s highways incentive allocation for 2025 to 2026 will be automatically incorporated into their integrated settlement.
DfT expects and encourages all highway authorities to engage with this initiative regardless of incentive.
Total CRSTS allocations notes
In combined mayoral authority areas, funding will be paid to the combined authority instead of the local authority. Funding for London has been divided between TfL, City of London and the 32 boroughs.
Cornwall Unitary Authority (UA) is within the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ Business rates retention pilot (as are the Greater Manchester and West of England combined authorities). It instead retains a proportion equal to what it would normally receive, so its funding for HMB is indicative only.
Table 1: Total CRSTS allocations
| Allocation baseline 2025 to 2026 (£) | Allocation new funding 2025 to 2026 (£) | Total funding 2025 to 2026 (£) – if LHAs meet incentive | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 1,067,000,000 | 500,000,000 | 1,567,000,000 |
Table 2: CRSTS allocations for MCAs
| Mayoral Combined Authority (MCAs) | Allocation baseline 2025 to 2026 (£) | Allocation new funding 2025 to 2026 (£) | Total funding 2025 to 2026 (£) – if LHAs meet incentive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Manchester CA | CRSTS | 14,806,000 | 14,806,000 |
| South Yorkshire CA | CRSTS | 6,733,000 | 6,733,000 |
| West Yorkshire CA | CRSTS | 14,814,000 | 14,814,000 |
| Liverpool City Region CA | CRSTS | 8,713,000 | 8,713,000 |
| Tees Valley CA | CRSTS | 4,873,000 | 4,873,000 |
| West Midlands CA | CRSTS | 8,610,000 | 8,610,000 |
| Cambridgeshire and Peterborough CA | 27,455,000 | 10,032,000 | 37,487,000 |
| West of England CA | CRSTS | 6,733,000 | 6,733,000 |
| North East CA | CRSTS | 21,734,000 | 21,734,000 |
| East Midlands CA | 55,786,000 | 19,948,000 | 75,735,000 |
| York and North Yorkshire CA | 45,521,000 | 16,660,000 | 62,181,000 |
Table 3: Highway maintenance allocations for local authorities outside London
| Local authority | Allocation baseline 2025 to 2026 (£) | Allocation new funding 2025 to 2026 (£) | Total funding 2025 to 2026 (£) – if LHAs meet incentive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bedford | 4,647,000 | 1,671,000 | 6,318,000 |
| Blackburn with Darwen | 2,841,000 | 994,000 | 3,835,000 |
| Blackpool | 1,757,000 | 609,000 | 2,366,000 |
| Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | 5,552,000 | 1,926,000 | 7,478,000 |
| Bracknell Forest | 2,435,000 | 858,000 | 3,293,000 |
| Brighton and Hove | 3,905,000 | 1,378,000 | 5,283,000 |
| Buckinghamshire | 15,241,000 | 5,484,000 | 20,725,000 |
| Central Bedfordshire | 7,128,000 | 2,570,000 | 9,698,000 |
| Cheshire East | 15,485,000 | 5,546,000 | 21,030,000 |
| Cheshire West and Chester | 11,431,000 | 4,084,000 | 15,515,000 |
| Cornwall | 32,347,000 | 11,993,000 | 44,339,000 |
| Devon | 61,117,000 | 22,523,000 | 83,640,000 |
| Dorset | 18,273,000 | 6,738,000 | 25,011,000 |
| East Riding of Yorkshire | 16,139,000 | 5,876,000 | 22,015,000 |
| East Sussex | 15,430,000 | 5,570,000 | 21,000,000 |
| Essex | 33,723,000 | 12,118,000 | 45,841,000 |
| Gloucestershire | 25,890,000 | 9,421,000 | 35,310,000 |
| Hampshire | 38,825,000 | 14,099,000 | 52,924,000 |
| Herefordshire | 16,751,000 | 6,178,000 | 22,928,000 |
| Hertfordshire | 26,322,000 | 9,348,000 | 35,670,000 |
| Isle of Wight | None - PFI | 1,608,000 | 1,608,000 |
| Isles of Scilly | None - separate funding agreement | 53,000 | 53,000 |
| Kent | 39,992,000 | 14,291,000 | 54,283,000 |
| Kingston upon Hull, City of | 3,343,000 | 1,139,000 | 4,482,000 |
| Lancashire | 34,516,000 | 12,308,000 | 46,825,000 |
| Leicester | 3,996,000 | 1,368,000 | 5,364,000 |
| Leicestershire | 21,128,000 | 7,661,000 | 28,789,000 |
| Lincolnshire | 44,207,000 | 16,235,000 | 60,441,000 |
| Luton | 2,127,000 | 725,000 | 2,852,000 |
| Medway | 3,735,000 | 1,289,000 | 5,023,000 |
| Milton Keynes | 7,912,000 | 2,806,000 | 10,719,000 |
| Norfolk | 40,984,000 | 15,158,000 | 56,142,000 |
| North East Lincolnshire | 3,059,000 | 1,068,000 | 4,127,000 |
| North Lincolnshire | 6,541,000 | 2,364,000 | 8,905,000 |
| North Northamptonshire | 9,094,000 | 3,283,000 | 12,377,000 |
| North Somerset | 5,256,000 | 1,894,000 | 7,150,000 |
| Oxfordshire | 24,508,000 | 8,975,000 | 33,483,000 |
| Plymouth | 3,352,000 | 1,175,000 | 4,527,000 |
| Portsmouth | 2,037,000 | 694,000 | 2,731,000 |
| Reading | 2,051,000 | 719,000 | 2,770,000 |
| Rutland | 2,760,000 | 1,010,000 | 3,770,000 |
| Shropshire | 24,554,000 | 9,126,000 | 33,680,000 |
| Slough | 1,411,000 | 478,000 | 1,888,000 |
| Somerset | 32,887,000 | 12,078,000 | 44,965,000 |
| Southampton | 2,399,000 | 836,000 | 3,236,000 |
| Southend-on-Sea | 2,100,000 | 724,000 | 2,824,000 |
| Staffordshire | 28,935,000 | 10,465,000 | 39,400,000 |
| Stoke-on-Trent | 3,488,000 | 1,210,000 | 4,697,000 |
| Suffolk | 32,029,000 | 11,739,000 | 43,769,000 |
| Surrey | 23,920,000 | 8,514,000 | 32,434,000 |
| Swindon | 4,259,000 | 1,502,000 | 5,761,000 |
| Telford and Wrekin | 5,276,000 | 1,888,000 | 7,164,000 |
| Thurrock | 2,833,000 | 985,000 | 3,819,000 |
| Torbay | 2,151,000 | 740,000 | 2,891,000 |
| Warrington | 5,326,000 | 1,858,000 | 7,184,000 |
| Warwickshire | 18,707,000 | 6,758,000 | 25,465,000 |
| West Berkshire | 6,519,000 | 2,382,000 | 8,900,000 |
| West Northamptonshire | 10,733,000 | 3,885,000 | 14,618,000 |
| West Sussex | 20,058,000 | 7,289,000 | 27,347,000 |
| Wiltshire | 23,600,000 | 8,683,000 | 32,283,000 |
| Windsor and Maidenhead | 3,192,000 | 1,135,000 | 4,327,000 |
| Wokingham | 4,229,000 | 1,490,000 | 5,719,000 |
| Worcestershire | 21,711,000 | 7,859,000 | 29,571,000 |
| Cumberland | 19,358,000 | 7,095,000 | 26,453,000 |
| Westmorland and Furness | 22,725,000 | 8,329,000 | 31,054,000 |
Table 4: Highway maintenance allocations for London boroughs, City of London and Transport for London (TfL)
| Local authority | Allocation baseline 2025 to 2026 (£) | Allocation new funding 2025 to 2026 (£) | Total funding 2025 to 2026 (£) – if LHAs meet incentive |
|---|---|---|---|
| City of London | 0 | 70,000 | 70,000 |
| Barking and Dagenham | 0 | 556,000 | 556,000 |
| Barnet | 0 | 1,198,000 | 1,198,000 |
| Bexley | 0 | 895,000 | 895,000 |
| Brent | 0 | 759,000 | 759,000 |
| Bromley | 0 | 1,479,000 | 1,479,000 |
| Camden | 0 | 444,000 | 444,000 |
| Croydon | 0 | 1,241,000 | 1,241,000 |
| Ealing | 0 | 945,000 | 945,000 |
| Enfield | 0 | 1,007,000 | 1,007,000 |
| Greenwich | 0 | 813,000 | 813,000 |
| Hackney | 0 | 418,000 | 418,000 |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | 0 | 356,000 | 356,000 |
| Haringey | 0 | 571,000 | 571,000 |
| Harrow | 0 | 782,000 | 782,000 |
| Havering | 0 | 1,082,000 | 1,082,000 |
| Hillingdon | 0 | 1,152,000 | 1,152,000 |
| Hounslow | PFI | 757,000 | 757,000 |
| Islington | 0 | 368,000 | 368,000 |
| Kensington and Chelsea | 0 | 328,000 | 328,000 |
| Kingston upon Thames | 0 | 543,000 | 543,000 |
| Lambeth | 0 | 585,000 | 585,000 |
| Lewisham | 0 | 685,000 | 685,000 |
| Merton | 0 | 606,000 | 606,000 |
| Newham | 0 | 692,000 | 692,000 |
| Redbridge | 0 | 853,000 | 853,000 |
| Richmond upon Thames | 0 | 664,000 | 664,000 |
| Southwark | 0 | 614,000 | 614,000 |
| Sutton | 0 | 749,000 | 749,000 |
| Tower Hamlets | 0 | 447,000 | 447,000 |
| Transport for London | TfL receives separate funding for its transport network | 967,000 | 967,000 |
| Waltham Forest | 0 | 686,000 | 686,000 |
| Wandsworth | 0 | 655,000 | 655,000 |
| Westminster | 0 | 523,000 | 523,000 |
Calculation of the highways maintenance formula
This information outlines how DfT calculated highways maintenance block funding ‘needs’ allocations for the 2025 to 2026 financial year. It is important to understand that these figures are subject to the ongoing transport incentivisation initiative and forthcoming consultation with local authorities.
The allocations for each element
As a result of the consultation on highways maintenance funding, DfT has allocated a proportion of the total funding to 3 elements in the following proportions, derived from the whole of government accounts, of 82.42% funding towards roads.
The funding is split evenly between:
- A roads: 27.47%
- B and C roads: 27.47%
- U roads: 27.47%
Funding for other areas include:
- bridges: 15.38%
- lighting columns: 2.20%
- cycleways and footways: 0%
How each element has been calculated
The allocations for an authority for the roads, bridges and lighting elements are all calculated in broadly the same way. This is the ‘local authority total for each element’ divided by ‘England total for each element’, multiplied by ‘total allocation in pounds (£) for each element’.
The allocations for each of the elements are then added together to get the total allocation for each authority and rounded to the nearest £1,000.
Data sources: roads
The road lengths are sourced from DfT’s road lengths dataset for 2023 in kilometres and calculated as follows:
- A road totals have been calculated as ‘the principal motorway’ multiplied by 3, plus ‘principal rural A’, plus ‘principal urban A’, plus ‘dual principal rural A’, plus ‘dual principal urban A’
- B and C road totals are calculated as ‘rural B’ plus ‘urban B’ plus ‘rural C’ plus ‘urban C’
- U road totals were calculated as ‘rural U’ plus ‘urban U’
Data sources: bridges
These figures were sourced from local authorities in a data collection exercise and relate to the number of publicly maintainable highways bridges that highway authorities owned as of 1 April 2023.
This figure includes all structures over 1.5 metres in span, whether carrying carriageway or footway, but not including public rights of way or structures belonging to other owners, such as Network Rail.
Data sources: lights
These figures were sourced from local authorities in a data collection exercise and relate to the total number of street lighting columns owned by authorities as of 1 April 2023.
Private finance initiatives (PFI)
To calculate England’s totals for:
- all 3 elements, 3 authorities with PFIs that receive all their funding through PFI credits have been excluded – these are Birmingham, Sheffield and the Isle of Wight
- the lighting element, in addition to the 3 authorities mentioned, all local authorities with a street lighting PFI have also been excluded