Accredited official statistics

Local authority revenue expenditure and financing England: 2023 to 2024 – first release

Published 29 August 2024

Applies to England

1. Key statistics

Net current expenditure on services

• Local authorities’ total net current service expenditure was £123.4 billion in 2023-24. In real terms, this was £2.8 billion (2.4%) higher than in 2022-23.

• Total Service Expenditure excluding education totalled £83.5 billion in 2023-24. This was £2.4 billion (2.9%) higher in real terms compared to 2022-23.

• The categories of services with the largest changes in net current expenditure compared to 2022-23 were :

  • Adult Social Care: increased by £1.5 billion (+7.0%) in real terms to £23.3 billion.

  • Children’s Social Care: increased by £821 million (+6.0%) in real terms to £14.5 billion.
  • Housing services (excluding Housing Revenue Account): increased by £359 million (+14.8%) in real terms to £2.8 billion. This was due to an increase in expenditure on Homelessness services, which increased by £361 million (+27.2%) in real terms to £1.7 billion.

Revenue expenditure

• The broader measure of local authority Revenue Expenditure (see Definitions section) totalled £125.2 billion across all local authorities in England in 2023-24. In real terms, this is 0.5% higher than in 2022-23.

Revenue Account reserves

• Revenue Account non-ringfenced reserves are estimated to have totalled £30.4 billion at 31 March 2024. This is down from £33.4 billion at 1 April 2022, but is still substantially higher than £23.5 billion at 31 March 2020.

Release date: 29 August 2024

Date of next release: 12 December 2024

Contact: lgf1.revenue@communities.gov.uk

Media enquiries: NewsDesk@communities.gov.uk

2. Introduction

Local government expenditure accounts for just under a fifth of all government spending and the majority of this is shown in local authorities’ revenue accounts.

This statistical release, and all its associated tables, present the first release of outturn data on the revenue expenditure of local authorities in England for the financial year 2023-24. These are based on data from 368 (90%) of 411 local authorities in England in 2023-24 and use estimation to provide totals for England and for classes of local authority. The second release for Revenue Outturn 2023-24 is scheduled for publication on 12 December 2024.

The third release of the Revenue Outturn 2022-23 data set was published on 6 June 2024; this contained data for all bar four local authorities. A final update will be published once satisfactory data have been received from these authorities.

All the data in the release are compiled from the Revenue Outturn (RO) returns submitted by local authorities in England to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Coverage includes, but is not limited to councils i.e. London Boroughs, Metropolitan Districts, Shire Counties, Shire Districts and Unitary Authorities, as well as other type of local authority types: police, fire, waste, park and combined authorities, and the Greater London Authority.

Definitions of terms used in this release can be found in the accompanying Technical Notes document. The full data collections forms and guidance notes can be found in the forms section of our website.

Key contextual information

Functions and responsibilities of local government can change from year to year, so comparisons between financial years may potentially not be wholly valid. Where major changes occur, these are noted.

Figures in this report, and the associated tables and reports, are shown as net current expenditure. So, for example, a decrease may be driven by a decrease in expenditure or by an increase in fees or other income relating to that category of services, and conversely.

Imputation for missing returns

As at the cut-off for inclusion in this publication, 43 of 411 eligible local authorities had not yet provided data. England totals have been estimated by also drawing: i) on grant allocation data, where this was known, and ii) for other data items, on their proportions within the most recent previous outturn data.

The full data submitted by local authorities, including financing and reserves items, can be found at the 2023 to 2024 individual local authority - outturn data tables.

New data items in 2023-24

The only changes to data items for 2023-24 were to update the grants named in the form.

Engagement with users and future enhancements

A Review of Local Government Finance Statistics was carried out in 2021.Some new data items were added to the forms last year (see technical note for details) and there may be further items added next year. Additionally, revenue data has now been published in a multi-year dataset.

We are keen to know about the various uses to which these data are put. Therefore, please be in touch to tell us briefly, and with comments and suggestions by emailing lgf1.revenue@communities.gov.uk

3. Local authority expenditure

Most local authority spend is on the provision of services. The Revenue Outturn data records current expenditure by detailed categories of service, and these sum up to ‘Total Service Expenditure’.

‘Revenue Expenditure’ also accounts for any costs, notably those which do not fall wholly within the financial year, but which are charged to the year’s account. Most of these costs relate to repayment and management of debt, financing capital and grants that authorities receive on behalf of a third party.

Tables 1a and 1b below provide a summary of the key expenditure lines for all authorities in England for the last five years in cash terms and adjusted for inflation respectively.

Expenditure by service

Service Expenditure is classified under twelve main categories of service type, such as Education, Adult Social Care and Public Health, plus an ‘Other Services’ category catching all expenditure that authorities are unable to allocate to specific areas.

Tables 1a and 1b also show a five-year time series of Total Service Expenditure and Revenue Expenditure. Tables 2a and 2b provide a more detailed breakdown of the components of each expenditure category for all local authorities in England for 2022-23 and 2023-24.

Tables 1a and 2a show figures in cash terms (i.e. not adjusted for inflation) whereas tables 1b and 2b show figures adjusted for inflation (i.e. adjusted by the widely-used and general purpose GDP deflator. This converts all amounts in tables 1b and 2b into 2023-24 prices.) The adjustment for inflation for 2023-24 is 6.2%, which is similar to 2022-23, for which the GDP deflator’s value is 6.7%. In the preceding six years, its value was around 2%.

Total Service Expenditure for all local authorities in England was £123.4 billion in 2023-24, an increase of £2.8 billion (2.4%) in real terms compared to 2022-23.

Expenditure by local authorities on the Education service category decreased markedly over 2010s due to the ongoing change in status of local authority schools to centrally funded academies. As such, figures on expenditure on education services are not comparable over time. Consequently, excluding Education from Total Service Expenditure, provides a fairer year-on-year comparison.

Total Service Expenditure excluding education services for all local authorities in England was £83.5 billion in 2023-24. This was £2.4 billion (2.9%) higher in real terms compared to 2022-23.

The largest components of change in (net current) service expenditure (in real terms) from 2022-23 to 2023-24 were as follows:

i) Adult Social Care: increased by £1.5 billion (+7.0%) in real terms to £23.3 billion. This increase was largely due to a real terms increase of £514 million (+10.3%) in Physical support for those aged 65+, and of £434 million (+6.8%) in Learning disability support those aged 18–64.

ii) Children’s Social Care: increased by £821 million (+6.0%) in real terms to £14.5 billion. This was predominantly the result of a real terms increase of £644 million (+9.2%) in Looked After Children.

iii) The real terms increase of 1.2% in education services, was driven by increases in expenditure reported against the following categories: +£572 million (+9.6%) on Special schools and alternative provision, +£100 million (+2.6%) on Early Years, and +£424 million (+8.4%) in Other Education and Community Budget. Category definitions are published at General fund revenue account outturn specific guidance notes-education services

iv) Housing services (excluding Housing Revenue Account): increased by £359 million (+14.8%) in real terms to £2.8 billion. This was due to an increase in expenditure on Homelessness services, which increased by £361 million (+27.2%) in real terms to £1.7 billion. Within this, net expenditure relating to temporary accommodation increased by £315 million (+42%) in real terms to £1.06 billion.

Table 1a: Service expenditure net of sales, fees and charges and of other income [Note 1], 2019-20 to 2023-24 (cash terms)

£ million – not adjusted for inflation

Service Category	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
Education [note 2]	32,603	33,410	34,839	37,140	39,913
Highways and transport [note 3]	3,757	7,844	5,331	4,769	4,973
Highways and transport (GLA only)	1,003	4,280	2,337	1,653	1,564
Social care [note 4]	26,826	29,209	30,242	33,358	37,776
of which: Children’s Social Care	9,920	10,496	11,270	12,834	14,455
Public Health	3,228	3,792	4,232	3,832	3,892
Housing (excluding Housing Revenue Account)	1,775	2,051	2,179	2,283	2,784
Cultural, environmental and planning	8,757	10,107	10,008	10,668	11,239
Police	12,203	13,083	13,607	14,619	15,803
Fire & rescue	2,158	2,194	2,267	2,423	2,585
Central services	3,251	4,077	4,091	4,228	4,306
Other Services	42	519	255	201	165
Total Service Expenditure [note 2]	94,600	106,284	107,051	113,520	123,437
% Difference Year-on-year	3.5%	12.4%	0.7%	6.0%	8.7%
Total Service Expenditure excluding Education [note 5]	61,997	72,874	72,212	76,381	83,524
% Difference Year-on-year	4.8%	17.5%	-0.9%	5.8%	9.4%
Total Service Expenditure excluding Education & Public Health	58,769	69,082	67,980	72,549	79,632
% Difference Year-on-year	5.1%	17.5%	-1.6%	6.7%	9.8%
Revenue Expenditure[note 2]	98,178	109,639	111,177	117,252	125,159
% Difference Year-on-year	4.2%	11.7%	1.4%	5.5%	6.7%

Notes:

1. Other income includes, for example, significant funding for Adult Social Care from the NHS such as via Better Care Fund pooled budgets.
2. Expenditure on education services is not comparable between years due to a number of schools changing their status to become academies, which are centrally funded rather than funded through local authorities.
3. Much of the higher highways and transport expenditure during 2020-21 and 2021-22 can be attributed to the increase in grants to Transport for London, which arose as a result of lower fare income during the COVID-19 pandemic. Parking income was also significantly down in many authorities in 2020-21.
4. Adult Social Care is not shown separately since figures exclude expenditure financed from the NHS, such as through Better Care Fund. Equivalent figures including this are produced in NHS England’s Adult Social Care Activity and Finance Report which was published on 19/10/2023 and updated in December 2023 without the exclusions noted. NHS England is planning to publish the Adult Social Care Activity and Finance Report 2023-24 on 31 October 2024.
5. Education is excluded to provide a fairer year-on-year comparison as it is not comparable over time due to schools converting to academies and thus becoming directly funded.

Table 1b: Service expenditure net of sales, fees and charges and of other income [Note 1], 2019-20 to 2023-24 (real terms)

£ million – adjusted for inflation, in 2023-24 prices

Service Category	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
Education [note 2]	38,662	38,741	39,503	39,454	39,913
Highways and transport [note 3]	4,456	9,096	6,045	5,066	4,973
Highways and transport (GLA only)	1,189	4,963	2,650	1,757	1,564
Social care [note 4]	31,811	33,869	34,291	35,437	37,776
of which: Children’s Social Care	11,764	12,171	12,779	13,634	14,455
Public Health	3,827	4,397	4,799	4,071	3,892
Housing (excluding Housing Revenue Account)	2,105	2,378	2,471	2,425	2,784
Cultural, environmental and planning	10,384	11,719	11,348	11,333	11,239
Police	14,471	15,170	15,429	15,530	15,803
Fire & rescue	2,560	2,544	2,571	2,574	2,585
Central services	3,855	4,727	4,638	4,492	4,306
Other Services	50	602	289	213	165
Total Service Expenditure [note 2]	112,180	123,243	121,384	120,594	123,437
% Difference Year-on-year	-0.3%	9.9%	-1.5%	-0.7%	2.4%
Total Service Expenditure excluding Education [note 5]	73,518	84,503	81,881	81,140	83,524
% Difference Year-on-year	0.7%	14.9%	-3.1%	-0.9%	2.9%
Total Service Expenditure excluding Education & Public Health	69,690	80,105	77,082	77,070	79,632
% Difference Year-on-year	1.1%	14.9%	-3.8%	0.0%	3.3%
Revenue Expenditure [note 2]	116,423	127,133	126,062	124,559	125,159
% Difference Year-on-year	-0.9%	9.2%	-0.8%	-1.2%	0.5%

Notes:

1. Other income includes, for example, significant funding for Adult Social Care from the NHS such as via Better Care Fund pooled budgets.
2. Expenditure on education services is not comparable between years due to a number of schools changing their status to become academies, which are centrally funded rather than funded through local authorities.
3. Much of the higher highways and transport expenditure during 2020-21 and 2021-22 can be attributed to the increase in grants to Transport for London, which arose as a result of lower fare income during the COVID-19 pandemic. Parking income was also significantly down in many authorities in 2020-21.
4. Adult Social Care is not shown separately since figures exclude expenditure financed from the NHS, such as through Better Care Fund. Equivalent figures including this are produced in NHS England’s Adult Social Care Activity and Finance Report which was published on 19/10/2023 and updated in December 2023 without the exclusions noted. NHS England is planning to publish the Adult Social Care Activity and Finance Report 2023-24 on 31 October 2024.
5. Education is excluded to provide a fairer year-on-year comparison as it is not comparable over time due to schools converting to academies and thus becoming directly funded.

The figures in the tables of this document are, with the exception of tables 3a and 3b, net of sales, fees and charges, and net of other service-specific income (but not net of grants from Central Government). Other Income includes, for example, significant funding for Adult Social Care from the NHS such as via Better Care Fund pooled budgets.

To reflect the full extent of public expenditure on Adult Social Care, it is necessary to consider funding from the NHS in addition to net current expenditure by local authorities. NHS England is planning to publish the Adult Social Care Activity and Finance Report 2023-24 on 31 October 2024.

NHS Digital’s Adult Social Care Activity and Finance Report 2022-23 was published on 7 December 2023 (data tables were published on 19 October 2023), and shows net current expenditure as reported in its Adult Social Care Financial Returns from local authority social service departments, as well as planned Better Care Fund (BCF) expenditure on adult social care for 2022-23 which was £4.0 billion. This should be added to local authorities’ net current expenditure on adult social care to give the best estimate of total government net current expenditure on adult social care. The majority of these funds are transferred to local authorities. Correspondingly, these are recorded as ‘other income’ in the returns to MHCLG. They are therefore reflected within total (i.e. gross) expenditure, but not within net current expenditure. The remainder of the Better Care Fund planned expenditure is for social care activities delivered by other providers.

Revenue expenditure

Tables 2a and 2b provide a more detailed breakdown of the components of service expenditure categories by local authorities in England for 2022-23 and 2023-24, as well as for other elements of Revenue Expenditure.

Many local authorities explained that the increase in investment income and interest receipts followed from the increase in interest rates.

Table 2a: Revenue Expenditure components Summary, England, 2022-23 and 2023-24 (cash terms)

£ million - not adjusted for inflation

Service Category	Net current expenditure [Note 1] 2022-23 third release	Net current expenditure [Note 1] 2023-24 first release	Actual change between 2022-23 and 2023-24 first release	Percentage change between 2022-23 and 2023-24 first release
Education services	37,140	39,913	2,773	7.5
Highways and transport services (excl. GLA)	3,115	3,410	294	9.4
Highways and transport services (GLA only)	1,653	1,564	-90	-5.4
Children’s Social Care services	12,834	14,455	1,621	12.6
Adult Social Care services [note 5]	20,525	23,322	2,797	13.6
Public Health services	3,832	3,892	60	1.6
Housing services (excluding Housing Revenue Account)	2,283	2,784	501	21.9
including:
Homelessness: Temporary         accommodation including         administration	699	1,058	359	51.4
Homeless Reduction Act:         Administration,Prevention,         Relief & Support	364	413	49	13.4
Non Homeless Reduction         Act: Administration &         Support	186	217	31	16.6
Cultural services	2,668	2,671	3	0.1
Environmental services	5,879	6,436	557	9.5
Planning and development services	2,121	2,132	11	0.5
Police services	14,619	15,803	1,184	8.1
Fire and rescue services	2,423	2,585	162	6.7
Central services	4,228	4,306	78	1.8
Other Services	201	165	-36	-18
Total Service Expenditure	113,520	123,437	9,917	8.7
Housing Benefits	13,359	13,441	81	0.6
Parish Precepts	665	708	43	6.5
Levies	-19	24	43	-223.2
Trading Accounts and Other Adjustments	-231	-331	-99	43
Total Net Current Expenditure	127,293	137,279	9,985	7.8
Capital financing [note 2]	5,888	6,227	339	5.8
Capital expenditure charged to Revenue Account (CERA)[note 3]	2,851	2,188	-664	-23.3
Flexible use of Capital Receipts	-145	-154	-9	5.9
Capitalisation by a direction under Section 16(2)b [Note 3]	…	…	…	…
Bad debts provision	222	211	-11	-5.0
Flood defence payments to Environment Agency	40	42	2	4.0
Private Finance Initiative (PFI) schemes - difference from service charge	94	85	-8	-9.0
Appropriations to(+)/ from(-) financial instruments adjustment account	38	23	-15	-39.1
Appropriations to(+)/ from(-) unequal pay back pay account	-3	0	3	-99.9
less investment income &         interest receipts	2,646	3,806	1,160	43.8
less specific grants         outside AEF[note 4]	15,275	15,463	188	1.2
less Business Rates         Supplement	283	249	-34	-11.9
less Community         Infrastructure Levy         (CIL)	439	414	-25	-5.7
less Carbon Reduction         Commitment	5	-2	-6	-134.0
Appropriations to(+)/from(-) dedicated schools grant adjustment account	-273	-670	-398	145.8
Revenue Expenditure	117,252	125,159	7,906	6.7

Notes:

1. Net of sales, fees and charges, and net of income from other authorities in the local government sector, from the NHS and from elsewhere excluding central government departments, agencies and NDPBs. For more details, see Reconciliation between revenue outturn forms and the service reporting code of practice-sercop.

2. Includes provision for repayment of principal, leasing payments, external interest payments and HRA item 8 interest payments and receipts. This estimated total for Capital Financing costs will be more prone to subsequent revision (relative to other data items), until Revenue Outturn data returns have been received from all authorities with larger capitalisation directions, notably Thurrock.

3. We do not present an estimate for ‘Capitalisation by a direction under Section 16(2)b’ because most of the total of this item is attributable to a small number of local authorities, and some of these authorities have not yet provided Revenue Outturn 2023-24 data. These are listed at Exceptional financial support for local authorities.

4. Aggregate External Finance; see Definitions in Technical Note. Specific grants outside Aggregate External Finance have been falling over recent years due to the move from Housing Benefit, which passes through local authorities’ Revenue Accounts (outside of Service Expenditure), to Universal Credit.

5. As per note 1, income from the NHS (eg via the Better Care Fund) is netted off in the calculation of net current expenditure. Further aggregates of Adult Social Care Expenditure can be found in NHS England’s Adult Social Care – Activity and Finance Report. NHS England is planning to publish the Adult Social Care Activity and Finance Report 2023-24 on 31 October 2024. The 2022-23 edition was published on 19th October 2023 and updated in December 2023. This reports financing of local authority adult social care expenditure from the NHS totalling £4.0 billion in 2022-23.

Table 2b: Revenue Expenditure components Summary, England, 2022-23 and 2023-24

£ million - adjusted for inflation, in 2023-24 prices

Service Category	Net current expenditure [Note 1] 2022-23 third release	Net current expenditure [Note 1] 2023-24 first release	Actual change between 2022-23 and 2023-24 first release	Percentage change between 2022-23 and 2023-24 first release
Education services	39,454	39,913	459	1.2
Highways and transport services (excl. GLA)	3,309	3,410	100	3.0
Highways and transport services (GLA only)	1,757	1,564	-193	-11.0
Children’s Social Care services	13,634	14,455	821	6.0
Adult Social Care services [note 5]	21,804	23,322	1,518	7.0
Public Health services	4,071	3,892	-179	-4.4
Housing services (excluding Housing Revenue Account)	2,425	2,784	359	14.8
including:
Homelessness: Temporary         accommodation including         administration	743	1,058	315	42.5
Homeless Reduction Act:         Administration,Prevention,         Relief & Support	387	413	26	6.8
Non Homeless Reduction         Act: Administration &         Support	197	217	19	9.8
Cultural services	2,834	2,671	-163	-5.7
Environmental services	6,245	6,436	191	3.1
Planning and development services	2,254	2,132	-121	-5.4
Police services	15,530	15,803	273	1.8
Fire and rescue services	2,574	2,585	11	0.4
Central services	4,492	4,306	-185	-4.1
Other Services	213	165	-49	-22.8
Total Service Expenditure	120,594	123,437	2,842	2.4
Housing Benefits	14,192	13,441	-751	-5.3
Parish Precepts	706	708	2	0.3
Levies	-21	24	44	-216
Trading Accounts and Other Adjustments	-246	-331	-85	34.6
Total Net Current Expenditure	135,226	137,279	2,053	1.5
Capital financing [Note2]	6,255	6,227	-28	-0.4
Capital expenditure charged to Revenue Account (CERA)	3,029	2,188	-841	-27.8
Flexible use of Capital Receipts	-154	-154	0	-0.3
Capitalisation by a direction under Section 16(2)b [Note 3]	…	…	…	…
Bad debts Provision	235	211	-25	-10.6
Flood defence payments to Environment Agency	43	42	-1	-2.1
Private Finance Initiative (PFI) schemes - difference from service charge	100	85	-14	-14.3
Appropriations to(+)/ from(-) financial instruments adjustment account	41	23	-17	-42.7
Appropriations to(+)/ from(-) unequal pay back pay account	-3	0	3	-99.9
less investment income &         interest receipts	2,811	3,806	995	35.4
less specific grants         outside AEF [note 4]	16,227	15,463	-764	-4.7
less Business Rates         Supplement	301	249	-51	-17.0
less Community         Infrastructure Levy         (CIL)	466	414	-52	-11.2
less Carbon Reduction         Commitment	5	-2	-7	-132.0
Appropriations to(+)/from(-) dedicated schools grant adjustment account	-290	-670	-381	131.4
Revenue Expenditure	124,559	125,159	600	0.5

Notes:

1. Net of sales, fees and charges, and net of income from other authorities in the local government sector, from the NHS and from elsewhere excluding central government departments, agencies and NDPBs. For more details, see Reconciliation between revenue outturn forms and the service reporting code of practice-sercop.

2. Includes provision for repayment of principal, leasing payments, external interest payments and HRA item 8 interest payments and receipts. This estimated total for Capital Financing costs will be more prone to subsequent revision (relative to other data items), until Revenue Outturn data returns have been received from all authorities with larger capitalisation directions, notably Thurrock.

3. We do not present an estimate for ‘Capitalisation by a direction under Section 16(2)b’ because most of the total of this item is attributable to a small number of local authorities, and some of these authorities have not yet provided Revenue Outturn 2023-24 data. These are listed at Exceptional financial support for local authorities.

4. Aggregate External Finance; see Definitions in Technical Note. Specific grants outside Aggregate External Finance have been falling over recent years due to the move from Housing Benefit, which passes through local authorities’ Revenue Accounts (outside of Service Expenditure), to Universal Credit.

5. As per note 1, income from the NHS (eg via the Better Care Fund) is netted off in the calculation of net current expenditure. Further aggregates of Adult Social Care Expenditure can be found in NHS England’s Adult Social Care – Activity and Finance Report. NHS England is planning to publish the Adult Social Care Activity and Finance Report 2023-24 on 31 October 2024. The 2022-23 edition was published on 19th October 2023 and updated in December 2023. This reports financing of local authority adult social care expenditure from the NHS totalling £4.0 billion in 2022-23.

Chart A illustrates proportions of expenditure by Service. Education and Social Care services combined continue to represent over half of all local authority service expenditure.

Chart A: Proportion of budgeted service expenditure by service, England, 2023-24

(a)‘Other’ includes Public Health, Fire and Rescue, Housing, Central and Other services.

Housing benefits

Although not part of Service Expenditure, Housing Benefits are a large component of total local authority spending. Paid by local councils to help individuals currently on low incomes to pay for rents for both private and social housing, these are financed through subsidies from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Housing Benefits expenditure was £13.4 billion in 2023-24, £751 million (-5.3%) lower than in 2022-23 (adjusted for inflation). There was a corresponding real terms decrease in subsidies received by local authorities, and this is reflected in the ‘Grants outside Aggregate External Finance (AEF)’ category. Decreases in this category have resulted from the transition to Universal Credit, whose funds do not pass through local authorities.

Expenditure and income

Expenditure lines in the summary tables in this release, such as in ‘Total Service Expenditure’ and each of the individual service areas, are net current expenditure i.e. expenditure minus relevant income.

Tables 3a and 3b show:

a) Total (gross) Expenditure and
b) Service specific income for each service line which is composed of:

• sales, fees and charges, and

• ‘other income’; this comprises transfers from other local authorities and other delivery bodies, and costs reimbursed e.g. from DWP for temporary accommodation. The Service Expenditure Summary (RSX) table also contains the categories, as well as splitting Total expenditure into ‘employee costs’ and other costs, referred to as ‘running expenses’.

For each service category, the tables 3a and 3b shows the extent to which a net change in spend in a specific service area is due to change in total expenditure or due to a change in the service-specific forms of income.

Table 3a: Expenditure, income and total service expenditure, England, 2022-23 and 2023-24

£ million - not adjusted for inflation

Service Category	Gross expenditure 2022-23	Sales, fees and charges 2022-23	Other income 2022-23	Gross expenditure 2023-24	Sales, fees and charges 2023-24	Other income 2032-24	Gross expenditure change between 2022-23 to 2023-24	Sales, fees and charges change between 2022-23 to 2023-24	Other income change between 2022-23 to 2023-24
Education	42,015	1,833	3,042	45,725	2,175	3,637	3,710	342	595
Highways and transport	9,655	2,733	2,153	10,185	2,970	2,242	530	236	89
Highways and transport excluding GLA [note 1]	6,880	2,733	1,031	7,480	2,970	1,101	601	236	70
Children’s Social Care	13,923	178	911	15,762	216	1,091	1,838	37	180
Adult Social Care [note 2]	29,074	3,613	4,936	32,716	4,226	5,169	3,642	612	233
Public Health	4,132	35	265	4,179	39	248	47	4	-18
Housing (excluding HRA [note 3])	4,072	1,046	743	4,736	1,115	837	664	69	94
Cultural	4,039	880	491	4,217	1,015	531	179	135	40
Environmental	8,352	1,585	888	9,168	1,821	911	816	236	24
Planning and development	3,882	1,016	744	4,053	1,153	768	171	137	24
Police	16,079	593	867	17,383	697	884	1,305	104	16
Fire and rescue	2,599	52	124	2,755	57	113	155	4	-11
Central           [note 4]	13,379	1,347	7,803	13,498	1,364	7,827	119	17	24
Other	531	143	188	469	96	208	-62	-47	21
Total Service Expenditure	151,731	15,054	23,156	164,845	16,942	24,466	13,114	1,888	1,310

Notes:

1. Transport for London fares income does not show in Highways & Transport Sales, Fees and Charges, because TfL is a subsidiary of the Greater London Authority. Consequently ‘gross expenditure’ reported by the GLA is lower than it otherwise would be, because fare income has effectively already been netted off.
2. Further aggregates of Adult Social Care Expenditure can be found in NHS Digital’s Adult Social Care – Activity and Finance Report. The 2022-23 edition was first released in October 2023 and was updated in December 2023. NHS England is planning to publish the Adult Social Care Activity and Finance Report 2023-24 on 31 October 2024.
3. Housing Revenue Account.
4. Most of the ‘Other Income’ (£7.8 billion in 2022-23 and 2023-24) recorded against ‘Central Services’ is in fact removing what would otherwise be double counting of recharges of ‘management and support services’ to more specific service categories, and income from other local authorities e.g. for shared services arrangements.

Table 3b: Expenditure, income and total service expenditure, England, 2022-23 and 2023-24

£ million - adjusted for inflation

Service Category	Gross expenditure 2022-23	Sales, fees and charges 2022-23	Other income 2022-23	Gross expenditure 2023-24	Sales, fees and charges 2023-24	Other income 2023-24	Gross expenditure change between 2022-23 to 2023-24	Sales, fees and charges change between 2022-23 to 2023-24	Other income change between 2022-23 to 2023-24
Education	44,633	1,947	3,232	45,725	2,175	3,637	1,092	228	405
Highways and transport	10,257	2,904	2,287	10,185	2,970	2,242	-72	66	-45
Highways and transport excluding GLA [note 1]	7,309	2,904	1,095	7,480	2,970	1,101	172	66	6
Children’s Social Care	14,791	189	968	15,762	216	1,091	971	26	123
Adult Social Care [note 2]	30,886	3,838	5,244	32,716	4,226	5,169	1,830	387	-75
Public Health	4,389	37	282	4,179	39	248	-211	2	-34
Housing (excluding HRA [note 3])	4,325	1,111	789	4,736	1,115	837	410	4	48
Cultural	4,291	934	522	4,217	1,015	531	-73	81	9
Environmental	8,872	1,684	943	9,168	1,821	911	296	137	-32
Planning and development	4,124	1,079	791	4,053	1,153	768	-71	73	-23
Police	17,081	629	921	17,383	697	884	303	67	-38
Fire and rescue	2,761	56	132	2,755	57	113	-6	1	-19
Central            [note 4]	14,212	1,431	8,290	13,498	1,364	7,827	-714	-67	-462
Other	564	152	199	469	96	208	-95	-56	9
Total Service Expenditure	161,186	15,992	24,599	164,845	16,942	24,466	3,659	950	-133

Notes:

1. Transport for London fares income does not show in Highways & Transport Sales, Fees and Charges, because TfL is a subsidiary of the Greater London Authority. Consequently ‘gross expenditure’ reported by the GLA is lower than it otherwise would be, because fare income has effectively already been netted off.
2. Further aggregates of Adult Social Care Expenditure can be found in NHS Digital’s Adult Social Care – Activity and Finance Report. The 2022-23 edition was first released in October 2023 and was updated in December 2023. NHS England is planning to publish the Adult Social Care Activity and Finance Report 2023-24 on 31 October 2024.
3. Housing Revenue Account.
4. Most of the ‘Other Income’ (£7.8 billion in 2022-23 and 2023-24) recorded against ‘Central Services’ is in fact removing what would otherwise be double counting of recharges of ‘management and support services’ to more specific service categories, and income from other local authorities e.g. for shared services arrangements.

4. Revenue expenditure financing

This section outlines the key sources of funding available to local authorities to finance their spending and how these differ for 2023-24 compared to 2022-23. The following forms of income are already netted off in the net current expenditure figures presented in this document: sales, fees and charges, reimbursements, and income from other organisations except for grants received from government departments, agencies and NDPBs. In addition to these, the main sources of funding available to finance revenue expenditure are locally retained business rates, Council Tax, and when there is a net use of reserves.

Adjustments to financing items

A number of adjustments have been made to Tables 4, 5 and 6 to remove any effects to grants and reserves totals that are just as a result of their recording and unusual timing. These relate to:

i): Two grant payments made to local authorities at the very end of 2019-20.

ii): Legal requirements relating to payments of business rates income among local authorities, along with accountancy regulations and the timing of grants compensating local authorities for additional COVID-19 business rates reliefs in 2020-21 and 2021-22. Accountancy regulations require that COVID-19 business rates relief grant income received in 2020-21 and 2021-22, including COVID-19 Additional Relief Fund (CARF) are included in local authorities’ revenue accounts. These are shown in their ‘other earmarked reserves’ until the following year when they compensate for what would otherwise be lower retained business rates income.

In relation to i):

• Where authorities included in their Revenue Outturn 2019-20 receipt of tranche 1 of COVID-19 emergency general grant that was paid in March 2020, this is treated as if it had been received in 2020-21.

• Where authorities included in their Revenue Outturn 2019-20 regular business rates relief grant income that was brought forward to March 2020, this is netted off for 2019-20. Regular business rates relief grants feed into the final amount of retained business rates income in their 2020-21 Revenue Outturn return.

And in relation to ii):

• In the year when the compensatory grants were received, the reported amounts are netted off from: a) total grants, b) reserves movements and c) the reserve levels at the end of the year.

• The amounts reported in the following year’s figures are netted off from the reserve levels at the start of the year and adjusted from the movement out of reserves. The amounts are instead shown in the Retained Income from the Business Rates Retention Scheme line. Further details can be found in the accompanying technical notes.

Revenue expenditure financing in 2022-23 and 2023-24

Table 4b shows the funding of revenue expenditure by detailed category in 2022-23 and 2023-24. Analysis of these figures is included in the following section. Table 4a, which is the equivalent table without adjustment for inflation, is available in the accompany spreadsheet workbook copies of the tables.

Table 4b: Revenue expenditure financing, England, 2022-23 and 2023-24

£ million - adjusted for inflation

Service Category	Net current expenditure 2022-23	Net current expenditure 2023-24 first release	Change £	Change %
Revenue expenditure	124,559	125,159	600	0.5
Financed by: Government Grants	66,482	65,998	-484	-0.7
of which: Specific grants     inside AEF [note 1]	55,426	55,256	-170	-0.3
including: Dedicated         Schools Grant (DSG)	30,678	30,006	-672	-2.2
Public Health Grant         [note 2]	3,395	3,301	-93	-2.7
Pupil Premium Grant	1,296	1,334	38	3.0
New Homes Bonus	585	288	-297	-50.7
Improved Better Care         Fund	2,176	2,050	-126	-5.8
Homeslessness         Prevention Grant         including Winter Top         Up	358	366	8	2.2
Social Care grant	2,493	3,852	1,359	54.5
Market Sustainability         and Fair Cost of Care         Fund	172	646	474	275.4
Adult Social Care         Discharge Fund	[z]	307	[z]	[z]
Revenue Support Grant	1,778	1,935	157	8.8
Police grant	9,241	8,784	-457	-4.9
Council tax requirement	38,576	38,726	151	0.4
Retained income from Business Rate Retention Scheme [note 3, 4]	17,499	18,705	1,207	6.9
Of which: COVID-19     business rates reliefs     grants from reserves     [note 5]	3,075	164	-2911	-94.7
Adjusted appropriations to(-) / from (+) revenue reserves [note 6]	1,869	942	-928	-49.6
of which:
Appropriations to (-) /     from (+) Schools’ reserves	196	54	-142	-72.5
Appropriations to (-) /     from (+) Dedicated     Schools Grant reserves	-223	-71	153	-68.4
Appropriations to (-) /     from (+) Public Health     reserves	-30	21	51	-168.2
Appropriations to (-) /     from (+) Other     Earmarked reserves     (adjusted)	1,497	1,093	-404	-27.0
Appropriations to (-) /     from (+) unallocated     reserves	430	-155	-585	-136.1
Council tax collection fund surplus (+) / deficit (-) [note 7]	89	323	234	261.7
Other items	-88	232	320	-364.3
Appropriations to(-) / from (+) revenue reserves Dedicated schools grant adjustment account [note 8]	290	670	381	131.4

Notes:

1. Specific grants inside AEF also includes the following grants: Private Finance Initiative (PFI), Universal Infants Free School Meals, Housing Benefit Subsidy and Council Tax Support Admin Grant, and all Other grants inside AEF. Please see the Specific and Special Revenue Grants data table (‘RG’) for more detail.
2. Public Health Grant allocations for the Metropolitan Districts of Greater Manchester are not reflected due to the devolution deal for the Greater Manchester area.
3. Accountancy regulations required compensatory COVID business rate relief grants that were paid in 2020-21 and 2021-22 to be recorded in reserves until they were used, typically in the following year, but also some smaller amounts being used only in subsequent years. In order to assist interpretation, this table includes the following adjustment: the amounts in the line “Of which COVID-19 business rates” have been subtracted from “Appropriations to/from other earmarked reserves” and have instead been added to the row showing the adjusted total “Retained income from Business Rates Retention Scheme”.
4. Business rates income is reported as a single item in this data set. See also the data provided by local authorities in detailed data returns on non-domestic rates.
5. Figures are as reported in these data returns.
6. Movements to and from reserves have been adjusted for timing effects to make them as comparable as possible over time.
7. Council Tax collection fund surplus/deficit includes net collection fund surpluses/deficits from the previous year.
8. Appropriations to/from the Dedicated Schools grant adjustment account is shown for transparency. It is netted off from local authorities’ expenditure in the calculation of Revenue Expenditure.

[z] Not applicable for this year.

Revenue expenditure financing trend over recent years

Table 5 shows funding of revenue expenditure since 2019-20 in terms of the broad categories of government grants and locally retained income (retained income from rate retention scheme and Council Tax), as well as whether overall local authorities have made net appropriations to or from reserves.

Changes since 2019-20

The broader measure of local authority Revenue Expenditure (see Definitions section) totalled £125.2 billion across all local authorities in England in 2023-24. In real terms, this is 0.5% higher than in 2023-24 and 7.5% higher than in 2019-20.

The large increase in revenue expenditure from 2019-20 to 2020-21 (+9.2% in real terms), was predominantly financed by increased central government grants. The following figures are all in cash terms, i.e. not adjusted for inflation: Central government grants (adjusted, notably removing COVID-19 business rate relief compensatory grants) financed £65.7 billion of local authority revenue expenditure in 2020-21, up from £48.4 billion in 2019-20, largely reflecting increased funding due to the impact of COVID-19. In 2021-22, the comparable (adjusted) grants total was £63.1 billion; this was 6.2% lower in real terms than 2020-21 because there was less COVID grant funding in 2021-22 than in 2020-21. In 2022-23, government grants totalled £62.6 billion, 7.0% lower in real terms compared to 2021-22. Grants totalled £66.0 billion in 2023-24, which was 0.7% lower than 2022-23 in real terms.

Longer-term changes

From 2014-15 onwards local authorities have been more reliant on locally retained income because business rates moved from being a centrally redistributed function to one where authorities retain a percentage of what they collect.

The proportion of revenue expenditure (excluding use of reserves and council tax collection fund surplus) funded from grants had fallen from 65.4% in 2013-14 to 49.9% in 2019-20, with corresponding increases in the income retained by local authorities. Since 2017-18, some authorities have been able to retain more than a 50% share of local business rates revenue in deals foregoing particular grants. Additionally, single year rate retention pilots took place in 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20, where different authorities and different percentage shares were involved. This led to a marked increase in retained business rates income and a similar decrease in Revenue Support Grant income in these years.

In 2020-21, local authorities received additional grant funding in response to COVID-19 which increased the proportion of revenue expenditure funded from grants to 56.8%. In 2023-24, this was at 53.5%.

The increases over the years in Council tax requirement is the result of the combination of growth in tax base and in levels of council tax.

Table 5: Financing of revenue expenditure, England, since 2019-20

£ million - not adjusted for inflation

Outturn	Revenue expenditure	Government grants (adjusted) [Note 1]	% of Total [Note 2]	Retained income from Business Rate Retention Scheme [Note 3]	Of which: COVID-19 business rates relief grants from reserves [Note 4]	Council Tax	Locally retained income	% of Total [Note 2]	Adjusted use of reserves [Note 5, 6]	Council Tax collection fund surplus and Other items [Note 7
2019-20	98,178	48,393	49.9	17,216	[z]	31,452	48,669	50.1	766	350
2020-21	109,639	65,720	56.8	16,865	[z]	33,141	50,006	43.2	-6,189	143
2021-22	111,177	63,049	54.8	17,663	5,877	34,434	52,098	45.2	-3,094	-923
2022-23	117,252	62,582	54.2	16,472	2,895	36,313	52,785	45.8	1,760	1
2023-24	125,159	65,998	53.5	18,705	164	38,726	57,432	46.5	942	555

Notes:

1. Includes non-specific grants like COVID grants (excluding business rate relief grants), Revenue Support Grant and Police Grant as well as all the various ‘Specific grants inside aggregate external finance’.
2. As a percentage of total expenditure excluding use of reserves and Council Tax Collection Fund surplus and other items.
3. Business rates income is reported as a single item in this data set. See also the data provided by local authorities in detailed data returns on non-domestic rates.
4. As noted, a minority of authorities under-reported in this sub-category but this should not have affected the other figures.
5. Use of Reserves includes appropriations to (-) and from (+) all categories of Revenue Account reserves.
6. Movements to and from reserves have been adjusted for timing effects to make them as comparable as possible over time.
7. A number of authorities reported charges in 2021-22 in respect of collection fund deficits.

[z] Not applicable for this year.

5. Reserves

Reserves are funds set aside to finance future expenditure, often for liabilities, expected pressures or other contingencies.

Table 6 shows the level of authority revenue reserves from 2019-20 to 2023-24. The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) also has reserves figures although these are not included in this table because these are separate.

As noted in the section ‘Revenue Expenditure Financing’, reserves figures in the summary tables in this publication are presented adjusted for timing effects of grants relating to COVID, particularly additional business rates relief grants. This is so that the figures are as comparable as possible to other periods. There were nevertheless larger than usual discrepancies between 2020-21 and 2022-23, for example between reported reserves levels at the end of one financial year and the start of the next.

Notwithstanding these data quality considerations, it is clear that local authority reserves increased during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Revenue Account non-ringfenced reserves are estimated to have:

• totalled £30.4 billion at 31 March 2024, compared to £23.5 billion at 31 March 2020, but

• decreased by £2.9 billion from £33.4 billion at 1 April 2022 to £30.4 billion at 31 March 2024.

Table 6: Level of revenue reserves, England, since 2019-20

£ million - not adjusted for inflation

Outturn	Schools reserves	Dedicated schools grant adjustment account level	Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) reserves [Note 2]	Public Health reserves	Adjusted Other earmarked reserves [Note 1]	Unallocated reserves	Adjusted Non-ringfenced reserves Total [Note 1]	Adjusted Total (excluding DSG) reserves [Note 1, 2]
At 1 April:
2019	1,582	[z]	6	231	19,427	4,220	23,624	25,459
2020	1,521	[z]	-364	216	20,125	4,674	24,800	26,537
2021	2,133	[z]	-61	387	25,948	5,194	31,142	33,662
2022	2,289	[G]	[G]	538	27,898	5,472	33,370	36,197
2023	2,102	-1,633	564	582	26,606	4,827	31,432	34,116
At 31 March:
2020	1,429	[z]	-397	212	18,774	4,681	23,455	25,096
2021	2,136	[z]	-267	381	24,555	5,479	30,034	32,551
2022	2,283	[z]	-50	533	28,475	5,454	33,929	36,745
2023	2,104	[G]	[G]	567	26,480	5,068	31,547	34,218
2024	2,048	-2,316	639	562	25,460	4,965	30,424	33,034
Changes in 2022-23
Movements to (+) and from (-) reserves	-54	-683	75	-21	-1,146	138	-1,008	-1,083
as a percentage of 1 April 2023	-2.6%	41.8%	13.3%	-3.6%	-4.3%	2.9%	-3.2%	-3.2%
England reserves excluding Greater London Authority
Movements to (+) and from (-) reserves	-54	-683	75	-21	-1,080	71	-1,009	-1,084
as a percentage of 1 April 2023	-2.6%	0.0%	13.3%	-3.6%	-4.3%	1.6%	-3.4%	-3.4%

Notes:

1. Movements to/from reserves and reserves levels have been adjusted for timing effects to make them as comparable as possible over time. A small number of minor inconsistencies remain between changes in level and the appropriations reported by local authorities; these are the cause of the slight inconsistencies between the figures in this table and in Table 4.
2. Dedicated Schools Grant was introduced in this return in 2018-19. It was previously collected and continues to be collected in the Department for Education’s Section 251 return.

[G]. A new category of reserves levels ‘Dedicated Schools Grant Adjustment Account’ was introduced for 2022-23.The definition of RS797 and RS912 in the RO Specific Guidance links to explanatory references. Authorities should report deficits in the new category, and surpluses in ‘Dedicated Schools Grant Reserves’, as per accounting regulations. Previously many authorities reported both in the latter category, and the data for 2022-23 indicate that some authorities have not yet reported using the categories correctly. Consequently no England estimate has been made for 2022-23 for either category.

6. Accompanying tables

Tables

Accompanying tables presenting detailed revenue expenditure and financing figures for 2023-24 for all returns from local authorities received in time for this publication are available to download alongside this release.

These tables present all revenue information, by local authority, in a similar format as returned to the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government. This data forms the basis of the tables in this release.

Description	Form
Revenue Outturn Summary	RS
Service Expenditure Summary	RSX
Specific and Special Revenue Grants	RG
Education Services	RO1
Highways and Transport Services	RO2
Social Care and Public Health	RO3
Housing Services	RO4
Cultural, Environmental, Regulatory and Planning Services	RO5
Protective, Central and Other Services	RO6
Trading Services Revenue Account	TSR

The detailed grants table that was introduced for 2022-23 will be produced for 2023-24 shortly and published alongside these tables.

The Subjective Analysis Return table is normally published with the second release. In 2023-24, only Part A is being collected. This is as per the normal cycle by which parts B&C are collected only every third year, and are due to be collected next for 2025-26.

Symbols used

…   =   not available
0    =   zero or negligible
[z]     =   not applicable for this year
(R)  =   Revised since the last statistical release

Rounding

Where figures have been rounded, there may be a slight discrepancy between the total and the sum of constituent parts.

7. Technical notes

Please see the accompanying technical notes document for further details.

Information on Official Statistics is available via the UK Statistics Authority website.

Information about statistics at MHCLG is available via the department’s website.