Exceptional Financial Support for local authorities
Details of support granted to local authorities that have requested Exceptional Financial Support.
On 23 February 2026, the government confirmed Exceptional Financial Support for councils who made a request for financial assistance to handle pressures that they considered unmanageable and to enable them to set balanced budgets. The support is provided on an exceptional basis, and where relevant, on the condition that a local authority may be subject to an external assurance review.
This government is delivering fairer funding, targeting money where it is needed most through the first multi-year settlement in a decade. However, delivering reform will take time, and the government recognises the challenging financial context for local authorities as they continue to deal with the legacy of the previous flawed system.
The government has been clear we expect local authorities seeking additional support to have robust plans to deliver the improvements and service transformation required to help them to return to financial stability over the multi-year settlement.
A full summary of the support agreed with authorities to date is provided in the links below, broken down by year decisions have been taken. Where relevant these links also include copies of the published assurance reviews and other related material.
Due to the nature of council finances, requests under the Exceptional Financial Support framework can relate to prior financial years. Councils can also request to amend the profile of support provided in prior years. The presentation of decisions on Exceptional Financial Support in the following pages reflects the point at which requests were agreed and pages for each year have been updated to show the most recent decisions.
Collection
Updates to this page
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Adding new intro text and the 2026/27 breakdown of EFS
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Added Exceptional Financial Support for local authorities for 2025-26.
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First published.