Guidance

Road condition monitoring standard – PAS 2161

Published 28 May 2025

Applies to England

Road condition data is used by local highway authorities to monitor, plan and prioritise their highway maintenance activities. 

This guidance: 

• highlights the main points of the standard for road condition monitoring – PAS 2161:2024
• specifies how local authorities must fulfil their reporting requirements of road condition data for national reporting in the Department for Transport official statistics on road conditions

Background

Road condition data is used by local highway authorities to monitor, plan and prioritise their highway maintenance activities. The data is also published as official statistics by the Department for Transport (DfT) so that central government can monitor the condition of the national network of roads, as well as to inform the public, parliament and ministers.

In September 2024, DfT released a new standard for road condition monitoring, facilitated by the British Standards Institute and authored by the Transport Research Laboratory. This new standard will transform the use of data in highway maintenance by introducing innovative new methods for monitoring the condition of local roads in England, while ensuring the quality and comparability of road condition data across the country.

The standard was drafted in close collaboration with local highway authorities, and the department is very grateful to local authorities and the wider highway maintenance sector for their input at all stages of the project.

Summary of the new standard for road condition monitoring

The main changes

Instead of a single technology, local authorities can choose from a list of accredited suppliers offering different surveys and technologies.

Road condition data for national reporting will be in a new 1 to 5 format, with 1 indicating no deterioration and 5 indicating severe deterioration. The 5 condition categories represent the extent of maintenance that an engineer would consider necessary to restore a section of road to good condition.

See the section of this guidance on road condition categories for full definitions.

What stays the same

Local authorities will continue to be responsible for obtaining road condition monitoring data on their networks and reporting this to DfT each year.

The primary purpose of road condition monitoring data will continue to be for use by local authorities to inform their highway maintenance strategies.

Road condition monitoring data suppliers will continue to offer additional information beyond the minimum data required for national reporting. This additional data will not be constrained by DfT and is for the highway authority to specify at procurement.

The timing and coverage requirements for national reporting remain the same – see the section of this guidance on coverage requirements.

Requirements for local highway authorities

Local authorities are required to provide data to the Department for Transport each year on the condition of their classified roads.

From the financial year ending (FYE) 2027, this data must be collected from an approved survey.

We will publish a list of accredited suppliers on GOV.UK in autumn 2025.

The timing and coverage requirements for national reporting remain the same, as outlined in coverage requirements.

Timeline for PAS 2161 implementation

Data must be reported to DfT against the PAS 2161 in 2026. This will be the reporting of data collected in the FYE 2026.

Road condition data will have been collected under the SCANNER standard for FYE 2025, with local authorities reporting data to DfT as normal in spring 2025.

During 2025, DfT is working with road condition monitoring data suppliers, with permission from local authorities, to establish whether they can share data for FYE 2025 in the new format. If possible, this would mean suppliers reprocessing existing data and would not mean that local authorities would be required to collect data twice.

For FYE 2026, the new requirements will come into effect alongside existing requirements. Local authorities will be required to collect data in the 1 to 5 format specified in PAS 2161, using a data supplier that has been approved by DfT.

As the list of approved suppliers will be published mid-year, we cannot expect all authorities to be able to provide data against the new standard for FYE 2026, but where approved suppliers have been used, the new reporting requirements should be met. Where possible, data will also be requested in the previous red/amber/green format.

For FYE 2027, road condition data will transition fully to the new requirements. Local authorities will be required to collect data in the 1 to 5 format specified in PAS 2161, using a data supplier that has been approved by DfT.

Coverage

The new standard for road condition monitoring data applies to classified local roads in England.

The new standard for road condition monitoring only affects the data required for national reporting in England. That is, the single data list data topics currently listed as:

• 130-01: principal roads where maintenance should be considered
• 130-02: non-principal classified roads where maintenance should be considered

This refers to the motorways, ‘A’, ‘B’, and ‘C’ roads in England, which are maintained by local authorities.

The minimum coverage requirement by road classification are:

• A roads and motorways: ≥90% by length in both directions

• B roads: ≥85% by length in both directions

• C roads: ≥80% by length of C class roads in one direction

Local authorities must report this data to DfT each year, with the data reported collected within the previous 2 financial years.

See this section of the guidance for full details of data coverage.

Additional data

The new standard for road condition monitoring data does not constrain any additional data that may be collected during surveys.

The new data standard specifies the minimum requirements for road condition monitoring data for national reporting to DfT. Road condition monitoring suppliers will continue to provide extensive additional data beyond these requirements, including information about specific defects.

To encourage innovation, DfT has not set any constraints on this additional data. The content and format of any additional data must be agreed between the local authority and the supplier during the procurement process.

Procuring road condition monitoring surveys

Local authorities must procure a survey that has demonstrated that they can deliver data against PAS 2161 in the approval process defined by DfT.

The Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) have commenced the first calibration and approval project to determine which surveys are approved for national reporting of road condition monitoring data.

This trial will end by autumn 2025, at which time DfT will publish a list of the approved technologies.

If a local authority has a multi-year contract that began before the announcement of the approved surveys, then they may continue to use this survey for the remainder of their contract. The authority must use an accredited survey when procuring a new contract.

Approval of road condition monitoring surveys

The first approval process is being conducted by TRL on behalf of DfT.

Different road condition monitoring surveys will be tested on three 100km test networks across England and include roads of varying characteristics. Data on road condition is also being collected by highway engineers for the same roads. The data from the automated technologies will then be compared to a benchmark produced from the data collected by the highway engineers.

Survey companies will first have the opportunity to develop and calibrate their methods to improve the consistency of the data across the test networks.

A proportion of the benchmark information for the test network will be provided for survey companies to calibrate their survey data. The survey data will then be tested for comparability and repeatability.

Further details about how the data will be collected and compared are available in the BSI PAS2161 document.

What this means for suppliers of road condition monitoring data

Suppliers of data for national reporting will require approval of their surveys through DfT specified calibration and approval trials.

Suppliers must provide local authorities with the data as specified in Annex A of PAS 2161.

Data must be from an approved survey, with approvals being issued by survey/technology rather than supplier.

Suppliers will also provide additional data for use by the local authority. To encourage innovation, DfT has not set any constraints on this additional data. The content and format of any additional data must be agreed between the local authority and the supplier during the procurement process.

What this means for asset management software developers, including UKPMS systems

Where local authorities use asset management software to report road condition data, the system will need to be able to:

• ingest the new format of road condition monitoring data
• calculate the required summary statistic

This is regardless of whether they are currently UKPMS accredited.

The format of the new road condition data is fully specified in the data standard in Annex A of PAS 2161.

DfT is working closely with asset management software developers to support the transition and will provide detailed guidance about how to calculate the required summary statistics for national reporting.

DfT is also working to define how data processing consistency can be assured between asset management software.

If you work for an asset management software company and your company has not already spoken to DfT, please get in touch with us at RoadMaintenance.Stats@dft.gov.uk.

Backwards compatibility with data from the SCANNER standard

Data from the new standard will not be directly comparable to that from the existing SCANNER standard.

The existing categories of red, amber and green are formed from a set of parameters measured by SCANNER, which are then used to calculate the road condition indicator (RCI). The categorisation of condition in the new standard is from an engineer’s perspective of what maintenance would be required to restore the carriageway to ‘good’ condition. There is no simple translation between the SCANNER 3 categories and PAS 2161 5 categories.

Although not directly comparable, DfT will analyse all available data to understand the comparability between the old and new data as much as possible. With the dual running of standards, enabling the collection of data against the SCANNER and PAS 2161 standards simultaneously.

If backwards compatibility is important for a local authority, then please be aware that some road condition monitoring suppliers using SCANNER technology may be able to provide additional data to the local authority, which is comparable to their historic data. This must be agreed between the local authority and the road condition monitoring survey supplier during the procurement process.

Opportunities bought by PAS 2161

The new standard encourages innovation in the road condition monitoring sector by opening the market to new technologies. As well as introducing new technologies to the sector, the new standard enables innovation for SCANNER technology. Previous requirements meant that companies operating SCANNER technologies were not allowed to implement any improvements to either their equipment or algorithms.

The new standard will allow local authorities to choose the approved supplier that best suits their asset management strategy, rather than all local authorities being locked into a centrally designed solution.

Some local authorities are currently procuring 2 sets of road condition data to meet their needs, as well as DfT needs. Expanding the number of approved suppliers can save local authorities from having to duplicate spend.

Some local authorities have already transitioned to using road condition surveys that are not SCANNER. There is currently no consistency between data from different surveys, which means that data from different local authorities is not directly comparable. This has meant that if a local authority switched survey type, they may have appeared to have a sudden deterioration in road condition, when in reality the difference is due to the change in survey.

This has been a difficult issue to communicate and sudden changes in condition have resulted in negative perceptions of road condition in media and by elected members. The new standard will mean that if local authorities change surveys, as long as both are PAS 2161 accredited, going forward, the headline data for road condition, the new 5 categories, will be consistent between surveys.

How DfT plans to minimise disruption for local authorities

Dft has worked closely with local authorities, survey suppliers and asset management software companies to minimise disruption.

Throughout the project, DfT has taken opportunities to understand their concerns, through 1 to 1 conversations, group discussions, webinars, conference presentations and surveys, as well as ensuring local authorities are represented on the steering group, which approved the new data standard.

Road condition categories

The condition categories use a scale of 1 to 5 to indicate the maintenance treatment that an engineer considers necessary to restore a section of road to a ‘good’ condition. A ‘good’ condition is a condition not requiring any further maintenance.

Category	Description	Potential maintenance treatment option
1	No deterioration	Pavement is not considered for maintenance
2	Minor (and/or aesthetic) deterioration	Light maintenance – for example, minor patching
3	Moderate deterioration	Localised intervention or mid-life preventative maintenance – for example, surface dressing, patching, crack sealing
4	Moderate to severe deterioration	Rehabilitative maintenance, perhaps full carriageway – for example, resurfacing with thin overlay/surface dressing and multiple patching, edge haunching
5	Severe deterioration	Structural maintenance – for example, full carriageway resurfacing or reconstruction

The examples of maintenance treatment options provide general, not definitive, descriptions of some of the maintenance treatments that might be considered by a typical highway authority engineer to restore a section of road to a ‘good’ condition – a condition that does not require any further maintenance. They are provided for guidance only and are non-exhaustive.

Coverage requirements for road condition data for national reporting

Local authorities must report data to DfT each year. The data reported in each year must have been collected over the previous 2 financial years.

a) A roads and Motorways: ≥90% by length in both directions

b) B roads: ≥85% by length in both directions

c) C roads: ≥80% by length of C class roads in one direction

Rules and definitions: determining the required length for national reporting

The length of road typically refers to the length of the nearside lane. For each class of road, the length in the requirements above refers to the length of the main carriageway lanes – those that carry through-traffic. This is typically the nearside lane but might not be for some sections, for example, those with drop lanes for junctions, or HGV lanes.

How to calculate length with multiple lanes or directions

The length of a class of road includes both directions on 2-way single carriageways. For example, a 1 km, 2-way A road has a total length for the purposes of calculating the length of the network of 2 km.

The length of a carriageway with multiple lanes is based on the length of the nearside lane. For example, a 1km, one-way, 2-lane A road carriageway, or one direction of a 1km, 2-lane A road dual carriageway, has a total length of 1km.

It is suggested that a highway authority might wish to collect slightly more data than needed. This is because, when validating or fitting data, some may be rejected, which would reduce coverage.

A highway authority might wish to make an allowance for this when deciding how much of their network to include – they might want to collect data over a slightly larger length than the minimum reporting requirement.

The highway authority should discuss the risks to achieving the required coverage with its road condition monitoring (RCM) data collector/processor to determine what allowances to make in its data collection regime. For example, collecting data on greater than 90% of A roads so that, following validation and fitting, data is reported on at least 90% of A roads.

Roundabouts and slip roads are not required.

Sections defined as roundabouts or slip roads are not required for national reporting. However, highway authorities might find that there is benefit in collecting data on these sections for the purposes of local asset management. Where data collection is carried out on these sections, highway authorities are encouraged to include this in the dataset provided for national reporting. However, data delivered from these lengths do not contribute to the calculation of coverage.

A flag is provided in the common file format to identify lengths included in the dataset that are not included for national reporting. See Annex A in the PAS 2161 data standard.