Extended producer responsibility for packaging: local authority payments
Local authorities can find out how and when they’ll start to receive funding to manage packaging waste, including actions chief executives need to take.
How extended producer responsibility for packaging works
From 2025, some organisations and businesses will have to pay a fee for the packaging they supply to or import into the UK market. This is called extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging.
The money will go to local authorities (LAs), as:
-
waste disposal, waste collection or unitary authorities
-
statutory waste disposal authorities
It will cover net costs of collecting, managing, recycling and disposing of household packaging waste.
In the future, LAs will need to sign up to the new local authority payments (LAPs) function of the EPR digital service to receive payments.
Defra and the Scheme Administrator, once formally established, will contact LA chief executives from November 2024 to let them know what actions they need to take.
Payments local authorities will receive
In the first year (April 2025 to March 2026) LAs will receive a basic payment based on:
-
publicly available and existing data, including WasteDataFlow information and Office of National Statistics (ONS) data
-
data about tonnages, operations and unit costs gathered from a representative sample of LAs across the UK
From the second year (April 2026 to March 2027) the basic payment and any adjustments will be based on data LAs submit to the Scheme Administrator.
How the basic payment is calculated
The basic payment uses a model based on:
-
certain LA characteristics, such as rurality and deprivation
-
national policies and circumstances
-
the amount of waste LAs collect and manage
-
the estimated composition of this waste
Timeline of payments and actions local authorities need to take
The process for receiving payments and signing up for LAPs will begin from November 2024.
November 2024
In November 2024, Defra will send chief executives an email that includes an assessment notice. This will include:
-
a cost assessment
-
an estimate of what the LA’s basic payment will be for the first year of the scheme
They’ll also receive:
-
guidance about the method used to calculate the payment estimate
-
a schedule, explaining when they will receive payments
The assessment notice will include a link to a form LAs can use to submit queries and provide feedback.
April 2025
In April 2025, Defra will send chief executives another assessment notice which may include revisions based on feedback and queries from LAs.
April 2025 to March 2026
Between April 2025 and March 2026, LAs will receive 3 grant determination letters that will tell them:
-
how much they’ll be paid
-
when they’ll receive payments.
These amounts may be different to the assessment notices chief executives receive in November 2024 and April 2025.
The first payment will be made between October and December 2025 and will cover the first 2 quarters of the financial year. The second and third payments will be made between January and March 2026 and will cover the third and fourth quarter of the financial year.
LAs will receive remittance advice after each payment.
April 2026 onwards
LAs will receive 4 separate quarterly payments each year from April 2026.
After the local authority payments service opens
After LAPs opens, Defra will send chief executives an email request to sign up for the service. They’ll need to give contact details of who will sign up for the service on behalf of the LA – this will usually be the heads of finance and waste management.
LAs will be able to use the service to
-
view the detailed breakdown of their payment estimate
-
confirm their payment details
-
receive updates and notifications
-
view assessment notices
-
submit data
Data local authorities need to submit
If LAs submit waste data through existing services, such as the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) portal and WasteDataFlow, they must continue to do so. Defra will contact LAs directly if they need to submit further data before LAPs opens.
Data submissions in future years
Details of the data LAs will be able to submit in future years have not been finalised.
Defra is analysing data submitted from representative LAs to confirm what data will be needed for all LAs to collect and report in future years.
LAs will be updated as soon as this is finalised. There’ll be a window for LAs to collect the data before the submission deadline. The collection windows and submission deadline will be communicated in advance.
Although LAs are not required to submit data, doing so will help improve the overall accuracy of the modelled payment calculations. This will help ensure LAs receive more accurate payments.
The costs of collecting additional data requested by the Scheme Administrator will be covered by EPR.
Contact Defra
LAs can contact Defra if they have questions about the scheme.