Guidance

Applying for grant funding from the Structures Fund

Published 15 April 2026

Applies to England

Policy intent

The government’s 10-year infrastructure strategy committed to fixing the basics through long-term investment in road and rail maintenance:

• addressing backlogs
• fixing potholes
• ensuring existing networks are resilient to long-term challenges

Better road transport infrastructure has a vital role to play in delivery of the government’s missions: creating and connecting people to good jobs, supporting new housing and neighbourhoods, ensuring people can depend on vital public services and providing resilience in response to a changing world.

At the 2025 Spending Review, £24 billion of capital funding between 2026-27 and 2029-30 was allocated to National Highways and local highway authorities (LHAs) to maintain and improve motorways and local roads across the country.

This includes investing £1 billion to enhance the road network and create a Structures Fund for repairing major structures like bridges, flyovers and collapsed roads. This builds on the record investment of £7.3 billion the Department for Transport is providing to LHAs for local road maintenance between 2026-27 and 2029-30 to maintain and improve local roads across the country.

What the funding is for

The Structures Fund provides grant funding to support the capital costs of repairing or replacing local highway structures.

The £7.3 billion of capital funding for local highway maintenance, provided by the department to LHAs for 2026-27 to 2029-30, will be used for repair and replacement of highways structures in their current programmes.

The Structures Fund is only available for structures that LHAs and third parties cannot afford to maintain at, or restore to, full functionality themselves.

The fund’s strategic objectives

The funding is made available in support of the government’s missions.

Growth - Reduction to journey times and congestion will improve business productivity and profitability across the country.

Cleaner energy - Every route closure and diversion avoided or ended through the Fund will reduce emissions and improve air quality. Structures that have suffered from and/or are vulnerable to the increasing risk of extreme weather due to climate change can be adapted, building climate resilience.

Healthier and safer streets - Repairing, enhancing or replacing key structures for public transport and walking and cycling routes will have positive health impacts for individuals using these.

Breaking down barriers - Repairing local highway structures will reduce community severance, helping reopen local transport networks and supporting travel routes to jobs in affected communities. Structures that are replaced or enhanced should meet current design standards, enabling them to be more easily utilised by all road users.

The assessment of funding proposals will consider alignment to these missions.

Eligibility

The fund can only be used for structures where repair or replacement is unaffordable from the LHAs’ existing budgets.  

Structures that will benefit from the fund must either require repair or replacement now or be likely to before 31 March 2030.  

The scheme must be completed and reopened to traffic by 31 March 2030.

Funding can be used to:

• repair or replace eligible structures on the local highway network
• carry out local highway repairs that are needed due to landslips and collapses to geological structures and formations

Structures that are eligible for funding are:

• bridges
• fly-overs
• retaining walls
• culverts
• embankments
• cuttings
• tunnels

In their proposals, LHAs can put forward the repair or replacement of a single structure or a ‘package scheme’ for a coherent set of structures in an area.

Any enhancements to structures must be an integral, essential consequence of the repair or replacement of the structure, for example to ensure structures can withstand the demands of modern transport or more extreme weather events likely to occur during its design life. Costs for any additional enhancements beyond this would need to be met by LHAs or third parties.

Costs for structural renewal or replacement schemes that are incurred by LHAs can be counted towards the local highways maintenance spend that authorities are asked to publish within their annual highways maintenance transparency reports.

How much schemes may cost

There is no minimum or maximum value of total construction costs or funding that can be requested from the fund - subject to the local unaffordability criterion.

A local contribution must be included in the submission. No minimum local contribution to costs has been set, however proposals with a higher contribution will be assessed positively.

A scheme with a proposed local contribution that is so large that it could feasibly have proceeded without government support will not be viewed any more favourably relative to others, as the intention is to target investment where it is genuinely needed.

Who can propose schemes for funding

All LHAs across England and Transport for London can put forward schemes for the fund, including LHAs in London and within a combined authority.

The number of schemes to be proposed by each LHA

Each LHA and Transport for London can propose one scheme to receive funding.

The department will accept one further proposal from LHAs under exceptional circumstances, where the LHA determines such circumstances should apply to itself. For example, because the LHA assesses it has a second highly suitable scheme for investment from the fund, or because of other local considerations that mean the LHA determines it should be able to put forward 2 proposals.

Where an LHA determines these exceptional circumstances apply to itself, it must outline its reasoning in the pre-submission response form.

LHAs are also invited to inform the department of further ‘supplementary schemes’, only for the purpose of recording asset needs for future policy development.

If LHAs choose to do this, they should use the supplementary schemes form, which is available from the GOV.UK Structures Fund homepage.

Engagement between tiers of local government

Engagement on proposals between the London Boroughs and TfL and GLA and, where applicable, LHAs and their relevant combined authority is strongly encouraged.

TfL/GLA and combined authorities can assist LHAs by advising and collaborating on the development and delivery plans for schemes.

TfL/GLA and combined authority support and endorsement(s) for schemes in their geographic areas will be considered as part of the strategic case. Demonstration of support could be a letter of endorsement.

Engagement with public sector bodies

Where proposals interact with railways or the Strategic Road Network, engagement with the affected bodies (for example, Network Rail and National Highways) is strongly encouraged, including demonstration of support (for example, a letter of endorsement).

Similarly, where proposals interact with neighbouring LHAs engagement is strongly recommended, including demonstration of support (for example, a letter of endorsement).

Pre-submission response

To assist the department in managing the Structures Fund application process and technical advisory body (TAB) support, LHAs who intend to propose schemes for funding awards are required to provide a short pre-submission response to cover the following points:

• whether the LHA would like to receive standard, additional or enhanced support from the TAB
• a brief description of the proposed scheme and likely cost, if known - noting this information may be at a very high level at this point
• whether the LHA intends to provide a draft submission for TAB review and feedback
• whether the LHA would like to submit a further scheme for funding and the nature of the exceptional circumstances that would support the proposal

There are 2 windows for the pre-submission response:

• by 23:59 BST on 29 April 2026 if choosing the first submission window
• by 23:59 BST on 25 May 2026 if choosing the second submission window

LHAs will need to download and complete a pre-submission response form, which is available from the GOV.UK Structures Fund homepage.

Completed forms need to be submitted via email to StructuresFundTAB@dft.gov.uk.

The TAB and the department will confirm the level of TAB support provided for schemes shortly after the two submission windows and will respond to requests for submissions of a second scheme in a similar timeframe.

If there is a high level of demand from LHAs for support from the TAB, it may be necessary to prioritise TAB support for schemes. If needed, this will be based on:

• the LHA’s level of resource - as determined by their level of departmental local highways maintenance block allocations
• the scheme’s development to date
• the scheme’s expected benefit cost ratio (BCR) and date for completing construction (where available)

LHAs are able to submit this information in the pre-submission response.

Submission of proposed schemes

How to propose schemes for funding

LHAs will need to download and complete a submission template, which is available from the GOV.UK Structures Fund homepage.

The submission template needs to be submitted to the department via email to StructuresFundTAB@dft.gov.uk.

When emailing the template to DfT, LHAs that submit 2 proposals need to set out which scheme is their first priority and which is their second.

The template sets out the information required in relation to proposed schemes, including:

• the condition of the relevant structure
• the scheme’s costs and local contribution
• its strategic fit
• delivery plans
• the scheme’s economic benefits

The document has been designed to streamline the process of submitting proposals, with an economic toolkit that all LHAs will need to submit as part of their application.

LHAs can download a copy of the economic toolkit plus user guide from the GOV.UK Structures Fund homepage.

Where more comprehensive analytical tools or analyses have been used to assess the economic impact of a scheme, LHAs will be able to submit those results, together with any supplementary information, alongside the economic toolkit.

When to propose schemes for funding

All proposals must be received by the Department for Transport by 23:59 on 3 August 2026.

This deadline has been extended compared to the timelines originally envisaged by the department to ensure all LHAs, irrespective of local circumstances such as local elections, have sufficient time to prepare and put forward their proposals.

How many schemes will receive funding

The department recognises that the fund will not be able to provide investment for all structures that are in need of repair. It is therefore expected that the fund will be over-subscribed and as the fund will invest in some larger schemes, it is anticipated that some LHAs may not secure funding. 

How proposed schemes will be assessed for funding

The department will assess the proposed schemes on their eligibility for the fund, and in alignment with the Green Book’s 5-case model. The submission template is structured according to the 5 cases.

All sections of the submission template will be considered in the assessment and funding award decision making.

Eligibility check

An initial check will be undertaken to ensure each submission meets the criteria set out in this guidance before progressing to assessment.

Five case approach for assessing proposed schemes

Proposed schemes will be assessed against the 5 cases of the standard business case model, using the information provided in the submission template.

The approach to the assessment for each of the cases is outlined below.

Strategic case

The strategic case assessment will focus on the alignment between the scheme proposed and national and local priorities. The following elements will be included in the assessment.

• The extent to which the scheme supports delivery of the growth, cleaner energy, healthier and safer streets and breaking down barriers missions. Supporting the growth mission is a key aspect of the fund, and applicants are encouraged to consider how the scheme prevents disruption, maintains economic activities and/or stimulates growth.

• The extent to which schemes align with wider local priorities and objectives.

• The impacts of not delivering the scheme.

• Support from local and regional stakeholders, including the public.

• For schemes in London and combined authority areas, support from Transport for London or the relevant combined authority.

• Where relevant to the asset, the level of support from National Highways or Network Rail.

Economic case

The economic case assessment will consider the value for money of the proposed scheme.

This will include assessment of:

• monetised benefits and disbenefits - for example, journey time savings, vehicle operating costs, greenhouse gases
• whole life costs
• non-monetised impacts - for example community severance

The value for money assessment will consider the benefit cost ratio (comparison of the monetised benefits and costs) together with the identified non-monetised impacts. The robustness of the underlying assumptions and analysis will also be taken into account as part of the assessment.

Commercial case

The assessment process will consider key information on the procurement strategy for the proposed scheme. In particular the commercial case assessment will include:

• the procurement approach for the proposed scheme, including whether the LHA plans to use existing contracts or new procurements
• commercial risks and their mitigation
• LHA capacity and capability to deliver the scheme

The assessment of the commercial case will consider these factors to establish the risks which may contribute to failure to deliver within the identified time scales.

Financial case

The schemes proposed to the Structures Fund should be unaffordable from the existing funding that is made available to LHAs. This assessment will include:

• the reasons why the proposed scheme is not deliverable from the available budgets
• what are the anticipated maintenance costs without Structures Fund investment
• the total cost of the proposed scheme
• the local contribution that is to be made to facilitate the proposed scheme
• if there are any other contributions from third parties (where applicable)

The financial case assessment will consider the accuracy of the proposed scheme cost estimates. The department recognises that cost estimates at earlier stages of design are less mature and have wide confidence bounds.

Management case

The management case assessment will focus on the delivery of the proposed scheme. Schemes are likely to be at different points of development so the assessment will include:

• the point in the scheme lifecycle that the project is currently at
• governance, roles and project management arrangements for scheme delivery
• what project controls are to be employed to ensure that the management approach is successful
• how carbon management is being considered for the development of the scheme
• how utilities affect the scheme and how these impacts are being managed
• the anticipated period for the construction phase
• the complexity of the scheme - relating to factors including site, programme, stakeholders or design
• how climate change could impact the scheme over the lifetime of the structure and how potential impacts from climate change have informed the development of the scheme, where applicable

The assessment for this section will also consider the approach to managing permissions and consents to enable scheme delivery. 

Support available to LHAs in developing proposals

The department has appointed WSP to act as a technical advisory body (TAB) to support and collaborate with LHAs to develop a pipeline of potential schemes for the fund.   

The TAB will provide support to all LHAs at the start of the process by providing guidance on the eligibility and assessment criteria, how to prepare and submit proposals, and how to work with the TAB. This will involve an online engagement event where these points are outlined on 23 April, and again during the week commencing 18 May.

Register to attend the 23 April webinar.

This page will be updated with a link to the May webinar in the week commencing 4 May.

Ongoing support will subsequently be made available to all LHAs through the TAB’s ‘central office’. This will provide LHAs with the opportunity to seek advice on developing proposals and the eligibility and assessment criteria.

This support will be available via a helpline at StructuresFundTAB@dft.gov.uk, which will respond to queries from LHAs. An FAQ response document will be disseminated after the webinar on 23 April.

In addition to this, the TAB will be available to provide scheme-specific support to LHAs for developing their schemes. This support will be provided by specialists with expertise in appraisal, asset management, structures and cost estimation. They will advise and assist LHAs with different aspects of their proposals as required. This may include support with evidencing the need for repairs, cost estimation and benchmarking, appraising a scheme’s benefits and developing delivery plans. The TAB will also help assure LHA assumptions, for example regarding costs, benefits and timelines and advise on ensuring alignment with the relevant departmental guidance and criteria.  

Three levels of scheme-specific support from the TAB will be available to LHAs - standard, additional and enhanced levels of support.

Standard support: review and validation

As a minimum, the TAB and its technical experts will provide check and challenge of the scheme’s submission template by reviewing a draft submission. This check and challenge would include data quality checks, checks on assumptions, benchmarking and identification of outliers among other points.

Additional support: guided development and review

In addition to the check and challenge provided for a draft submission as part of the ‘standard support’ offer, it is anticipated that some LHAs could secure support from the TAB on one or two key elements of their proposed schemes. For example, this could include reviewing asset data records, considering appropriate interventions, assessing its journey time savings, estimating the expected costs and/or prioritising between candidate schemes.

Enhanced support: end-to-end assistance

For this level of support, in addition to the ‘additional support’ offer, we give LHAs access to a range of technical experts across the TAB who would provide support in preparatory work and development of proposals (completing relevant sections of the submission template and economic toolkit), including full check and challenge, for example of asset/economic data and underlying assumptions.

LHAs are strongly encouraged to share draft submissions for their proposals up to halfway through the application window (see the timeline section) for preliminary review. This will allow the TAB to provide feedback which can be considered in time for final submissions for proposed schemes.

The more information that LHAs can provide in draft submissions, the more feedback the TAB will be able to provide. However, it is for LHAs to determine the extent to which they can complete the submission template for draft submissions and fully completed submission templates are not expected or necessary at this stage.

In particular, any information provided in draft submissions will be treated as such and subject to confirmation, and declarations from local authority officers are not required until final submissions.

After awards are announced

Schemes that do not receive funding

Schemes that are proposed by LHAs for funding will be evaluated according to the methodology described in this guidance. Details of schemes that do not receive a funding award will be retained by the department in support of building the evidence base for investing in local highways structures in the future.  

In addition to submitting a completed submission template for a scheme being reviewed for investment, LHAs can also provide information for additional structures that require repair.

These ‘supplementary schemes’ will not be reviewed for investment as part of this funding round but instead would support the department’s evidence base for investing in local highways structures in the future. Details of such potential schemes can be provided in the supplementary schemes form.

Receiving grant payments

The department intends to disburse investments through the fund using grant payments under section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003.

Reporting on progress

The department will determine further assurance and approvals for schemes prioritised for funding, including reporting requirements, once it has received proposals from LHAs.

Transparency with costs and spending

The department will determine transparency requirements for schemes prioritised for funding, including reporting requirements, once it has received proposals from LHAs.

The department will make awards of a defined value only. Escalation of costs for any reason, such as inflation or design changes, will remain a risk owned by the LHA. 

Timeline - key dates

Date	Activity
15 April 2026	Publication of guidance, submission templates and economic toolkit. DfT-led webinar held with LHAs within the first days after guidance publication to present the contents of this guidance and answer initial questions from LHAs. TAB helpline to open for queries from LHAs.
23 April 2026	First webinar held by the department and TAB on the fund, submission template and economic toolkit.
29 April 2026	First date for LHAs to submit the pre-submission response form (including specifying the requested level of support for their scheme).
06 May 2026	TAB and the department confirm with LHAs that submitted pro-formas by 29 April 2026 the level of TAB support they will receive.
Week commencing 18 May 2026	Second iteration of webinars held by the department and TAB on the fund, submission template and economic toolkit.
25 May 2026	Final deadline for LHAs to complete the pre-submission response (including specifying the level of support they request from the TAB). This is a mandatory step for LHAs that have not yet submitted this during the first submission window that closes on 29 April 2026.
1 June 2026	TAB and the department confirm with LHAs that submitted pro-formas by 25 May 2026 the level of TAB support they will receive.
19 June 2026	Latest date LHAs are able to submit voluntary draft submission templates and economic toolkits.
3 August 2026	Deadline by which LHAs need to submit final submission template and economic toolkit.
Autumn 2026	Department announcements on funding awards.
1 April 2027	Commencement of delivery reporting.
31 March 2030	Latest date for funded schemes’ programmes to reach completion.
1 April 2030	Commencement of post-delivery monitoring and evaluation.