Exclusive: Highways self-assessment process set for ministerial review

The Department for Transport has confirmed that 'a submission will be going to ministers' on the future of the highways Incentive Fund self-assessment process.

While the department would not confirm what the submission will contain, it seems likely to include the options of either dropping the process completely or reforming it based on updated questions.

Some sources have strongly suggested the self-assessment process will be dropped for this year at least and an announcement is due soon, however the Department for Transport has denied that any decision has been made.

A press officer told Highways: 'A submission will be going to ministers on this, but they have not seen it as of yet and certainly no decision has been made. Generally, they [submissions] will cover all options and pros and cons.'

The Incentive Fund self-assessment process was launched in 2015 as a means of incentivising certain elements of highway maintenance, particularly proper asset management.

A set of questions were used to rank highway services into three bands with different amounts of cash allocated based on the different levels. The funding came from top-slicing the capital maintenance money from the DfT.

While the system won its fair share of supporters and saw the vast majority of councils move up into the top Band 3 over time, there were those in the sector who suggested the process was not rigorous enough.

Promises of an audit of results never seemed to materialise. Meanwhile, new questions were added in 2021 suggesting the DfT wanted to use the questionnaire to encourage more environmental progress.