The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced its highways maintenance allocations for 2026 to 2030, amounting to £7.3bn for local road authorities over the four-year period.
At least 25% of this cash has been designated for use as incentive funding each year, meaning that local road authorities will have to demonstrate compliance with highway maintenance best practices, 'for example spending all the capital grant on maintaining their road networks' the DfT said.
It added that, should the authorities' transparency reports – introduced in 2025 – not be published, it will withhold all incentive funding.
The Government introduced transparency reports this year and DfT has said it 'will set out further details on the requirements for transparency reports for future years in due course'.
For the 2026/2027 financial year, 50% of the incentive cash will be allocated based on performance, with the DfT stating that ‘further performance-based metrics may be considered' for the later years of the funding period.
Total funding allocations
The DfT plans to increase baseline funding gradually, starting with just over £1bn in 2026-2027 and reaching just shy of £1.6bn for 2029-2030. The same is true for the incentive fund element, starting at £525m for the first year and concluding with £540m.
The six mayoral strategic authorities (MSAs) will receive integrated City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements (CRSTS) in 2026-2027, which consolidate transport capital funding allocations, including baseline highway maintenance capital allocations:
- Greater Manchester Combined Authority
- Liverpool City Region Combined Authority
- North East Combined Authority
- South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority
- West Midlands Combined Authority
- West Yorkshire Combined Authority
The DfT said that it expects 'all local highway authorities participate in the transparency reporting for the full 4-year period, regardless of incentive'. Incomplete reporting will be considered as part of future funding decisions.
Other authorities
Six other strategic authorities outside of the CRSTS areas will also receive cash as part of this new allocation:
- Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority
- Devon and Torbay Combined Authority
- Greater Lincolnshire Combined Authority
- Hull and East Yorkshire Combined Authority
- Lancashire Combined County Authority
- York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority
Details of the full funding awarded can be found here.
