Accredited official statistics

Local authority revenue expenditure and financing England: 2024 to 2025 – first release

Published 18 September 2025

Applies to England

Net current expenditure on services

• Local authorities’ total net current service expenditure was £134.2 billion in 2024-25. In real terms, this was £5.4 billion (4.2%) higher than in 2023-24.

• Total Service Expenditure excluding education totalled £89.9 billion in 2024-25. This was £2.6 billion (2.9%) higher in real terms compared to 2023-24.

• The categories of services with the largest changes in net current expenditure compared to 2023-24 were:

  • Education services: increased by £2.9 billion (+6.9%) in real terms to £44.3 billion.
  • Adult Social Care: increased by £803 million (+3.3%) in real terms to £25.3 billion.
  • Children’s Social Care: increased by £297 million (+2.0%) in real terms to £15.5 billion.
  • Housing services (excluding Housing Revenue Account): increased by £367 million (+12.6%) in real terms to £3.3 billion. This was due to an increase in net current expenditure on homelessness services, which increased by £397 million (+22.4%) in real terms to £2.2 billion. Gross expenditure on homelessness services (i.e. before income such as housing benefit and other contributions are accounted for) increased by £544 million in real terms to £3.7 billion.

Revenue Expenditure

• The broader measure of local authority Revenue Expenditure (see Definitions section) totalled £135.0 billion across all local authorities in England in 2024-25. In real terms, this is 3.3% higher than in 2023-24.

Revenue Account Reserves

• Revenue Account non-ringfenced reserves are estimated to have totalled £30.2 billion at 31 March 2025. This is lower than £30.3 billion at 31 March 2024, but is still substantially higher than £24.8 billion at 1 April 2020.

Release date: 18 September 2025

Date of next release: 11 December 2025

Responsible Statistician: Tom Crowther

Contact: lgf1.revenue@communities.gov.uk

Media enquiries: NewsDesk@communities.gov.uk

Introduction

Local government expenditure accounts for just under a fifth of all government spending and the majority of this is shown in local authorities’ revenue accounts.

This statistical release, and all its associated tables, present the first release of outturn data on the revenue expenditure of local authorities in England for the financial year 2024-25. These are based on data from 388 (94.6%) of 410 local authorities in England in 2024-25 and use estimation to provide totals for England and for classes of local authority.

All the data in the release are compiled from the Revenue Outturn (RO) returns submitted by local authorities in England to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Coverage includes, but is not limited to councils i.e. London Boroughs, Metropolitan Districts, Shire Counties, Shire Districts and Unitary Authorities, as well as other types of local authority: police, fire, waste, park and combined authorities, and the Greater London Authority.

Definitions of terms used in this release can be found in the accompanying Technical Notes document. The forms and guidance notes for this data collection can be found in the forms section of our website.

Key contextual information

Functions and responsibilities of local government can change from year to year, so comparisons between financial years may potentially not be wholly valid. Where major changes occur, these are noted.

Figures in this report, and the associated tables and reports, are shown as net current expenditure. So, for example, a decrease may be driven by a decrease in expenditure or by an increase in fees or other income relating to that category of services, and conversely.

Imputation for missing returns

As at the cut-off for inclusion in this publication, 22 of 410 eligible local authorities had not yet provided valid data. England totals have been estimated by also drawing: i) on grant allocation data, where this was known, and ii) for other data items, on their proportions within the most recent previous outturn data.

The full data submitted by local authorities, including financing and reserves items, can be found by following the link to the ‘2024 to 2025 individual local authority - outturn’ data tables.

New data items in 2024-25

To improve the clarity and quality of the data collected on debt management costs, a new memorandum table was added to the RSm form. The new table consists of six cells which requires local authorities to report on ‘interest costs’, ‘finance cost of credit arrangements’ and ‘revenue cost of the repayment of the principal of debt’ under the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account. Completion of the table was optional this year. Twenty four authorities completed this section.

The list of named grants in the RG tab was also updated.

Engagement with users and future enhancements

A Review of Local Government Finance Statistics was carried out in 2021, which led to additional data items being added to the forms to fill data gaps. Further recommendations will be implemented in 2025-26. Additionally, revenue data is now being published in a multi-year dataset.

We are keen to know about the various uses to which these data are put. Therefore, please be in touch to tell us briefly, and with comments and suggestions by emailing lgf1.revenue@communities.gov.uk

Local Authority Expenditure

Most local authority spend is on the provision of services. The Revenue Outturn data records current expenditure by detailed categories of service, and these sum up to ‘Total Service Expenditure’.

‘Revenue Expenditure’ also accounts for any costs, notably those which do not fall wholly within the financial year, but which are charged to the year’s account. Most of these costs relate to repayment and management of debt, financing capital and grants that authorities receive on behalf of a third party.

Tables 1a and 1b below provide a summary of the key expenditure lines for all authorities in England for the last five years in cash terms and adjusted for inflation respectively.

Expenditure by service

Service Expenditure is classified under twelve main categories of service type, such as Education, Adult Social Care and Public Health, plus an ‘Other Services’ category catching all expenditure that authorities are unable to allocate to specific areas.

Tables 1a and 1b also show a five-year time series of Total Service Expenditure and Revenue Expenditure. Tables 2a and 2b provide a more detailed breakdown of the components of each expenditure category for all local authorities in England for 2023-24 and 2024-25.

Tables 1a and 2a show figures in cash terms (i.e. not adjusted for inflation) whereas tables 1b and 2b show figures adjusted for inflation (i.e. adjusted by the widely used and general purpose GDP deflator. This converts all amounts in tables 1b and 2b into 2024-25 prices.) The adjustment for inflation for 2024-25 is 4.1%. The GDP deflator’s value for 2023-24 is 5.9%.

Total Service Expenditure for all local authorities in England was £134.2 billion in 2024-25, an increase of £5.4 billion (4.2%) in real terms compared to 2023-24.

Expenditure by local authorities on the Education service category decreased markedly over 2010s due to the ongoing change in status of local authority schools to centrally funded academies. As such, figures on expenditure on education services are not comparable over time. Consequently, excluding Education from Total Service Expenditure, provides a fairer year-on-year comparison.

Total Service Expenditure excluding education services for all local authorities in England was £89.9 billion in 2024-25. This was £2.6 billion (2.9%) higher in real terms compared to 2023-24.

The largest components of change in (net current) service expenditure (in real terms) from 2023-24 to 2024-25 were as follows:

i) Adult Social Care: increased by £803 million (+3.3%) in real terms to £25.3 billion. This increase was largely due to a real terms increase of £444 million (+7.8%) in Physical support for those aged 65+, and of £350 million (+4.9% ) in Learning disability support for those aged 18–64.

ii) Children’s Social Care: increased by £297 million (+2.0%) in real terms to £15.5 billion. This was predominantly the result of a real terms increase of £322 million (+4.0%) in Looked After Children.

iii) The real terms increase of 6.9% in education services, was driven by increases in expenditure reported against the following categories: +£2 billion (+50.4%) on Early Years, reflecting changes to early years entitlements and +£607 million (+8.8%) on Special schools and alternative provision.

iv) Expenditure on housing services (excluding Housing Revenue Account): increased by £367 million (+12.6%) in real terms to £3.3 billion. This was due to an increase in net current expenditure on homelessness services, which increased by £397 million (+22.4%) in real terms to £2.2 billion. Gross expenditure on homelessness services (i.e. before income such as housing benefit and other contributions are accounted for) increased by £544 million in real terms to £3.7 billion. Within homelessness services, net current expenditure on nightly paid, privately managed accommodation saw the most significant increase, by £309 million to £620 million in 2024-25.

Category definitions are published at Revenue Account Outturn Specific Guidance notes.

Table 1a: Service expenditure net of sales, fees and charges and of other income [Note 1], 2020-21 to 2024-25 (cash terms)

£ million – not adjusted for inflation

Service Category	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25
Education [note 2]	33,410	34,839	37,164	39,850	44,344
Highways and transport [note 3]	7,842	5,330	4,778	4,923	5,482
Highways and transport (GLA only)	4,280	2,337	1,653	1,564	1,822
Social care [note 4]	29,211	30,239	33,349	38,091	40,742
of which: Children’s Social Care	10,496	11,270	12,829	14,593	15,484
Public Health	3,788	4,233	3,827	3,900	4,111
Housing (excluding Housing Revenue Account)	2,050	2,180	2,296	2,801	3,282
Cultural, environmental and planning	10,100	10,003	10,614	11,260	11,860
Police	13,083	13,607	14,619	15,814	16,894
Fire & rescue	2,194	2,267	2,423	2,613	2,801
Central services	4,126	4,107	4,196	4,269	4,568
Other Services	519	246	214	232	133
Total Service Expenditure [note 2]	106,321	107,050	113,480	123,754	134,217
% Difference Year-on-year	12.4%	0.7%	6.0%	9.1%	8.5%
Total Service Expenditure excluding Education [note 5]	72,912	72,212	76,316	83,904	89,873
% Difference Year-on-year	17.6%	-1.0%	5.7%	9.9%	7.1%
Total Service Expenditure excluding Education & Public Health	69,124	67,979	72,488	80,003	85,762
% Difference Year-on-year	17.6%	-1.7%	6.6%	10.4%	7.2%
Revenue Expenditure [note 2]	109,676	111,111	117,265	125,534	134,966
% Difference Year-on-year	11.7%	1.3%	5.5%	7.1%	7.5%

Notes:

1. Other income includes, for example, significant funding for Adult Social Care from the NHS such as via Better Care Fund pooled budgets.
2. Expenditure on education services is not comparable between years due to a number of schools changing their status to become academies, which are centrally funded rather than funded through local authorities.
3. Much of the higher highways and transport expenditure during 2020-21 and 2021-22 can be attributed to the increase in grants to Transport for London, which arose as a result of lower fare income during the COVID-19 pandemic. Parking income was also significantly down in many authorities in 2020-21.
4. Adult Social Care is not shown separately since figures exclude expenditure financed from the NHS, such as through Better Care Fund. Equivalent figures including this are produced in DHSC’s Adult Social Care Activity and Finance Report, which will be published later this year.
5. Education is excluded to provide a fairer year-on-year comparison as it is not comparable over time due to schools converting to academies and thus becoming directly funded.

Table 1b: Service expenditure net of sales, fees and charges and of other income [Note 1], 2020-21 to 2024-25 (real terms)

£million – adjusted for inflation, in 2024-25 prices

Service Category	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25
Education [note 2]	40,333	41,094	40,948	41,471	44,344
Highways and transport [note 3]	9,467	6,287	5,264	5,123	5,482
Highways and transport (GLA only)	5,167	2,757	1,822	1,627	1,822
Social care [note 4]	35,265	35,668	36,744	39,641	40,742
of which: Children’s Social Care	12,671	13,293	14,135	15,187	15,484
Public Health	4,572	4,993	4,217	4,059	4,111
Housing (excluding Housing Revenue Account)	2,474	2,572	2,530	2,915	3,282
Cultural, environmental and planning	12,193	11,799	11,695	11,719	11,860
Police	15,794	16,050	16,107	16,458	16,894
Fire & rescue	2,648	2,675	2,670	2,719	2,801
Central services	4,981	4,844	4,624	4,442	4,568
Other Services	626	290	236	241	133
Total Service Expenditure [note 2]	128,354	126,270	125,035	128,789	134,217
% Difference Year-on-year	9.8%	-1.6%	-1.0%	3.0%	4.2%
Total Service Expenditure excluding Education [note 5]	88,021	85,177	84,086	87,317	89,873
% Difference Year-on-year	14.9%	-3.2%	-1.3%	3.8%	2.9%
Total Service Expenditure excluding Education & Public Health	83,449	80,184	79,869	83,258	85,762
% Difference Year-on-year	14.9%	-3.9%	-0.4%	4.2%	3.0%
Revenue Expenditure [note 2]	132,405	131,060	129,205	130,641	134,966
% Difference Year-on-year	9.1%	-1.0%	-1.4%	1.1%	3.3%

Notes:

1. Other income includes, for example, significant funding for Adult Social Care from the NHS such as via Better Care Fund pooled budgets.
2. Expenditure on education services is not comparable between years due to a number of schools changing their status to become academies, which are centrally funded rather than funded through local authorities.
3. Much of the higher highways and transport expenditure during 2020-21 and 2021-22 can be attributed to the increase in grants to Transport for London, which arose as a result of lower fare income during the COVID-19 pandemic. Parking income was also significantly down in many authorities in 2020-21.
4. Adult Social Care is not shown separately since figures exclude expenditure financed from the NHS, such as through Better Care Fund. Equivalent figures including this are produced in DHSC’s Adult Social Care Activity and Finance Report, which will be published later this year.
5. Education is excluded to provide a fairer year-on-year comparison as it is not comparable over time due to schools converting to academies and thus becoming directly funded.

The figures in the tables of this document are, with the exception of tables 3a and 3b, net of sales, fees and charges, and net of other service-specific income (but not net of grants from Central Government). Other Income includes, for example, significant funding for Adult Social Care from the NHS such as via Better Care Fund pooled budgets.

To reflect the full extent of public expenditure on Adult Social Care, it is necessary to consider funding from the NHS in addition to net current expenditure by local authorities.

DHSC’s Adult Social Care Activity and Finance Report, to be published later this year, will show net current expenditure as reported in its Adult Social Care Financial Returns from local authority social service departments, as well as planned Better Care Fund (BCF) expenditure on adult social care. This should be added to local authorities’ net current expenditure on adult social care to give the best estimate of total government net current expenditure on adult social care. The majority of these funds are transferred to local authorities. Correspondingly, these are recorded as ‘other income’ in the returns to MHCLG. They are therefore reflected within total (i.e. gross) expenditure, but not within net current expenditure. The remainder of the Better Care Fund planned expenditure is for social care activities delivered by other providers.

Revenue Expenditure

Tables 2a and 2b provide a more detailed breakdown of the components of service expenditure categories by local authorities in England for 2023-24 and 2024-25, as well as for other elements of Revenue Expenditure.

Table 2a: Revenue Expenditure components Summary, England, 2023-24 and 2024-25 (cash terms)

£ million - not adjusted for inflation

Service Category	Net current expenditure [note 1] 2023-24	Net current expenditure [note 1] 2024-25	Actual change between 2023-24 and 2024-25	Percentage change between 2023-24 and 2024-25
Education services	39,850	44,344	4,494	11.3
Highways and transport services (excl. GLA)	3,359	3,661	301	9.0
Highways and transport services (GLA only)	1,564	1,822	258	16.5
Children’s Social Care services	14,593	15,484	891	6.1
Adult Social Care services [note 5]	23,498	25,258	1,759	7.5
Public Health services	3,900	4,111	211	5.4
Housing services (excluding Housing Revenue Account)	2,801	3,282	481	17.2
including:
Homelessness: Temporary accommodation including administration	1,059	1,437	379	35.8
Homeless Reduction Act: Administration, Prevention, Relief & Support	430	497	67	15.5
Non Homeless Reduction Act: Administration and Support	218	239	21	9.5
Cultural services	2,688	2,669	-19	-0.7
Environmental services	6,408	6,643	235	3.7
Planning and development services	2,164	2,548	384	17.7
Police services	15,814	16,894	1,079	6.8
Fire and rescue services	2,613	2,801	188	7.2
Central services	4,269	4,568	300	7.0
Other Services	232	133	-99	-42.8
Total Service Expenditure	123,754	134,217	10,464	8.5
Housing Benefits	13,475	13,046	-429	-3.2
Parish Precepts	708	784	76	10.7
Levies	9	-36	-45	-493.9
Trading Accounts and Other Adjustments [note 6]	-306	-232	73	-24.0
Total Net Current Expenditure	137,640	147,779	10,139	7.4
Capital financing [note 2]	6,360	6,965	605	9.5
Capital expenditure charged to Revenue Account (CERA)	2,198	2,360	162	7.4
Flexible use of Capital Receipts	-162	-492	-330	204.6
Capitalisation by a direction under Section 16(2)b [note 3]	[note 3]	-788	[note 3]	[note 3]
Bad debt provision	217	298	80	37.0
Flood defence payments to Environment Agency	42	42	1	1.2
Private Finance Initiative (PFI) schemes - difference from service charge	45	44	-2	-3.5
Appropriations to(+)/ from(-) financial instruments adjustment account	22	70	48	214.9
**Appropriations to(+)/ from(-) unequal pay back pay account **	0	0	0	-94.6
less investment income & interest receipts	3,696	3,893	197	5.3
less specific grants outside AEF [note 4]	15,404	15,211	-192	-1.2
less Business Rates Supplement	249	290	41	16.4
less Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)	440	350	-90	-20.5
less Carbon Reduction Commitment	-2	-1	1	-47.3
Appropriations to(+)/from(-) dedicated schools grant adjustment account	-675	-1,568	-893	132.2
Revenue Expenditure	125,534	134,966	9,433	7.5

Notes:

1. Net of sales, fees and charges, and net of income from other authorities in the local government sector, from the NHS and from elsewhere excluding central government departments, agencies and NDPBs. For more details, see Reconciliation between revenue outturn forms and the service reporting code of practice-sercop.
2. Includes provision for repayment of principal, leasing payments, external interest payments and HRA item 8 interest payments and receipts.
3. ‘Capitalisation by a direction under Section 16(2)b’ has not been reported for 2023-24 because most of the total of this item is attributable to a small number of local authorities, and some of these authorities have not yet provided Revenue Outturn 2023-24 data. For 2024-25, figures for missing authorities are based on the known allocations for that year. These are listed at Exceptional financial support for local authorities.
4. Aggregate External Finance; see Definitions in Technical Note. Specific grants outside Aggregate External Finance have been falling over recent years due to the move from Housing Benefit, which passes through local authorities’ Revenue Accounts (outside of Service Expenditure), to Universal Credit.
5. As per note 1, income from the NHS (eg via the Better Care Fund) is netted off in the calculation of net current expenditure. Further aggregates of Adult Social Care Expenditure can be found in DHSC’s Adult Social Care Activity and Finance Report, which will be published later this year.
6. In 2024-25, line 596 (Investment Properties) was removed from the TSR form. Authorities were instead asked to report any data relating to this line under line 822 (Investment Properties) in the RS form.

Table 2b: Revenue Expenditure components Summary, England, 2023-24 and 2024-25

£ million - adjusted for inflation, in 2024-25 prices

Service Category	Net current expenditure [note 1] 2023-24	Net current expenditure [note 1] 2024-25	Actual change between 2023-24 and 2024-25	Percentage change between 2023-24 and 2024-25
Education services	41,471	44,344	2,872	6.9
Highways and transport services (excl. GLA)	3,496	3,661	165	4.7
Highways and transport services (GLA only)	1,627	1,822	194	11.9
Children’s Social Care services	15,187	15,484	297	2.0
Adult Social Care services [note 5]	24,454	25,258	803	3.3
Public Health services	4,059	4,111	52	1.3
Housing services (excluding Housing Revenue Account)	2,915	3,282	367	12.6
including:
Homelessness: Temporary accommodation including administration	1,102	1,437	336	30.5
Homeless Reduction Act: Administration, Prevention, Relief & Support	448	497	49	11.0
Non Homeless Reduction Act: Administration and Support	227	239	12	5.2
Cultural services	2,798	2,669	-128	-4.6
Environmental services	6,669	6,643	-26	-0.4
Planning and development services	2,252	2,548	296	13.1
Police services	16,458	16,894	436	2.6
Fire and rescue services	2,719	2,801	82	3.0
Central services	4,442	4,568	126	2.8
Other Services	241	133	-109	-45.1
Total Service Expenditure	128,789	134,217	5,429	4.2
Housing Benefits	14,023	13,046	-977	-7.0
Parish Precepts	737	784	47	6.4
Levies	9	-36	-45	-478.5
Trading Accounts and Other Adjustments [note 6]	-318	-232	86	-27.0
Total Net Current Expenditure	143,240	147,779	4,540	3.2
Capital financing [note 2]	6,619	6,965	347	5.2
Capital expenditure charged to Revenue Account (CERA)	2,287	2,360	73	3.2
Flexible use of Capital Receipts	-168	-492	-324	192.7
Capitalisation by a direction under Section 16(2)b [note 3]	[note 3]	-788	[note 3]	[note 3]
Bad debt provision	226	298	72	31.7
Flood defence payments to Environment Agency	44	42	-1	-2.7
Private Finance Initiative (PFI) schemes - difference from service charge	47	44	-3	-7.2
Appropriations to(+)/ from(-) financial instruments adjustment account	23	70	47	202.6
Appropriations to(+)/ from(-) unequal pay back pay account	0	0	0	-94.8
less investment income & interest receipts	3,846	3,893	47	1.2
less specific grants outside AEF [note 4]	16,031	15,211	-819	-5.1
less Business Rates Supplement	259	290	31	11.8
less Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)	458	350	-108	-23.7
less Carbon Reduction Commitment	-2	-1	1	-49.4
Appropriations to(+)/from(-) dedicated schools grant adjustment account	-703	-1,568	-865	123.1
Revenue Expenditure	130,641	134,966	4,325	3.3

Notes:

1. Net of sales, fees and charges, and net of income from other authorities in the local government sector, from the NHS and from elsewhere excluding central government departments, agencies and NDPBs. For more details, see Reconciliation between revenue outturn forms and the service reporting code of practice-sercop.
2. Includes provision for repayment of principal, leasing payments, external interest payments and HRA item 8 interest payments and receipts.
3. ‘Capitalisation by a direction under Section 16(2)b’ has not been reported for 2023-24 because most of the total of this item is attributable to a small number of local authorities, and some of these authorities have not yet provided Revenue Outturn 2023-24 data. For 2024-25, figures for missing authorities are based on the known allocations for that year. These are listed at Exceptional financial support for local authorities.
4. Aggregate External Finance; see Definitions in Technical Note. Specific grants outside Aggregate External Finance have been falling over recent years due to the move from Housing Benefit, which passes through local authorities’ Revenue Accounts (outside of Service Expenditure), to Universal Credit.
5. As per note 1, income from the NHS (eg via the Better Care Fund) is netted off in the calculation of net current expenditure. Further aggregates of Adult Social Care Expenditure can be found in DHSC’s Adult Social Care Activity and Finance Report, which will be published later this year.
6. In 2024-25, line 596 (Investment Properties) was removed from the TSR form. Authorities were instead asked to report any data relating to this line under line 822 (Investment Properties) in the RS form.

Chart A illustrates proportions of expenditure by Service. Education and Social Care services combined continue to represent over half of all local authority service expenditure.

Chart A: Proportion of budgeted service expenditure by service, England, 2024-25

(a)’Other’ includes Public Health, Fire and Rescue, Housing, Central and Other services.

Housing benefits

Although not part of Service Expenditure, Housing Benefits are a large component of total local authority spending. Paid by local councils to help individuals currently on low incomes to pay for rents for both private and social housing, these are financed through subsidies from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Housing Benefits expenditure was £13.0 billion in 2024-25, £1.0 billion (-7.0%) lower than in 2023-24 (adjusted for inflation). There was a corresponding real terms decrease in subsidies received by local authorities, and this is reflected in the ‘Grants outside Aggregate External Finance (AEF)’ category. Decreases in this category have resulted from the transition to Universal Credit, whose funds do not pass through local authorities.

Expenditure and income

Expenditure lines in the summary tables in this release, such as in ‘Total Service Expenditure’ and each of the individual service areas, are net current expenditure i.e. expenditure minus relevant income.

Tables 3a and 3b show:

a) Total (gross) Expenditure and
b) Service specific income for each service line which is composed of:

• sales, fees and charges, and

• ‘other income’; this comprises transfers from other local authorities and other delivery bodies, and costs reimbursed e.g. from DWP for temporary accommodation. The Service Expenditure Summary (RSX) table also contains the categories, as well as splitting Total expenditure into ‘employee costs’ and other costs, referred to as ‘running expenses’.

For each service category, tables 3a and 3b shows the extent to which a net change in spend in a specific service area is due to change in total expenditure or due to a change in the service-specific forms of income.

Table 3a: Expenditure, income and total service expenditure, England, 2023-24 and 2024-25

£ million - not adjusted for inflation

Service Category	Gross Expenditure 2023-24	Sales, Fees and Charges 2023-24	Other Income 2023-24	Gross Expenditure 2024-25	Sales, Fees and Charges 2024-25	Other Income 2024-25	Gross Expenditure Change between 2023-24 to 2024-25	Sales, Fees and Charges Change between 2023-24 to 2024-25	Other Income Change between 2023-24 to 2024-25
Education	45,591	2,033	3,709	50,678	2,274	4,060	5,087	242	351
Highways and transport	10,107	2,947	2,237	10,912	3,169	2,260	804	222	23
Highways and transport excluding GLA [note 1]	7,403	2,947	1,096	7,946	3,169	1,116	543	222	20
Children’s Social Care	15,844	211	1,040	16,797	223	1,087	953	12	47
Adult Social Care [note 2]	32,783	4,211	5,074	35,418	4,761	5,399	2,635	550	325
Public Health	4,198	40	258	4,399	50	238	201	10	-19
Housing (excluding HRA [note 3])	4,730	1,124	805	5,484	1,175	1,026	754	52	221
Cultural	4,239	1,008	543	4,374	1,129	576	135	121	33
Environmental	9,139	1,818	914	9,467	1,860	964	328	42	51
Planning and development	4,099	1,145	790	4,602	1,101	953	503	-44	163
Police	17,395	695	886	18,551	706	951	1,156	12	65
Fire and rescue	2,792	57	123	2,994	63	130	202	6	7
Central [note 4]	13,526	1,361	7,897	14,600	1,423	8,608	1,073	63	711
Other	538	96	210	516	94	290	-22	-2	79
Total Service Expenditure	164,982	16,743	24,485	178,791	18,028	26,542	13,809	1,285	2,058

Notes:

1. Transport for London fares income does not show in Highways & Transport Sales, Fees and Charges, because TfL is a subsidiary of the Greater London Authority. Consequently ‘gross expenditure’ reported by the GLA is lower than it otherwise would be, because fare income has effectively already been netted off.
2. Further aggregates of Adult Social Care Expenditure can be found in DHSC’s Adult Social Care Activity and Finance report, which will be published later this year.
3. Housing Revenue Account.
4. Most of the ‘Other Income’ recorded against ‘Central Services’ is in fact removing what would otherwise be double counting of recharges of ‘management and support services’ to more specific service categories, and income from other local authorities e.g. for shared services arrangements.

Table 3b: Expenditure, income and total service expenditure, England, 2023-24 and 2024-25

£ million - adjusted for inflation, in 2024-25 prices

Service Category	Gross Expenditure 2023-24	Sales, Fees and Charges 2023-24	Other Income 2023-24	Gross Expenditure 2024-25	Sales, Fees and Charges 2024-25	Other Income 2024-25	Gross Expenditure Change between 2023-24 to 2024-25	Sales, Fees and Charges Change between 2023-24 to 2024-25	Other Income Change between 2023-24 to 2024-25
Education	47,446	2,116	3,859	50,678	2,274	4,060	3,232	159	201
Highways and transport	10,519	3,067	2,328	10,912	3,169	2,260	393	102	-68
Highways and transport excluding GLA [note 1]	7,704	3,067	1,141	7,946	3,169	1,116	242	102	-25
Children’s Social Care	16,488	219	1,082	16,797	223	1,087	309	3	5
Adult Social Care [note 2]	34,117	4,382	5,280	35,418	4,761	5,399	1,301	379	119
Public Health	4,369	41	268	4,399	50	238	31	8	-30
Housing (excluding HRA [note 3])	4,923	1,169	838	5,484	1,175	1,026	561	6	188
Cultural	4,412	1,049	565	4,374	1,129	576	-38	80	11
Environmental	9,511	1,892	951	9,467	1,860	964	-44	-32	13
Planning and development	4,266	1,192	822	4,602	1,101	953	337	-91	131
Police	18,102	723	922	18,551	706	951	448	-17	29
Fire and rescue	2,905	59	128	2,994	63	130	88	4	2
Central [note 4]	14,077	1,416	8,219	14,600	1,423	8,608	523	7	389
Other	560	100	219	516	94	290	-43	-5	71
Total Service Expenditure	171,694	17,425	25,481	178,791	18,028	26,542	7,096	604	1,061

Notes:

1. Transport for London fares income does not show in Highways & Transport Sales, Fees and Charges, because TfL is a subsidiary of the Greater London Authority. Consequently ‘gross expenditure’ reported by the GLA is lower than it otherwise would be, because fare income has effectively already been netted off.
2. Further aggregates of Adult Social Care Expenditure can be found in DHSC’s Adult Social Care Activity and Finance report, which will be published later this year.
3. Housing Revenue Account.
4. Most of the ‘Other Income’ recorded against ‘Central Services’ is in fact removing what would otherwise be double counting of recharges of ‘management and support services’ to more specific service categories, and income from other local authorities e.g. for shared services arrangements.

Revenue Expenditure Financing

This section outlines the key sources of funding available to local authorities to finance their spending and how these differ for 2024-25 compared to 2023-24. The following forms of income are already netted off in the net current expenditure figures presented in this document: sales, fees and charges, reimbursements, and income from other organisations except for grants received from government departments, agencies and NDPBs. In addition to these, the main sources of funding available to finance revenue expenditure are locally retained business rates, Council Tax, and when there is a net use of reserves.

Adjustments to financing items

A number of adjustments have been made to Tables 4, 5 and 6 for 2019-20 to 2022-23 to remove any effects to grants and reserves totals that were just as a result of their recording and unusual timing as part of the Government’s COVID response. For details see the accompanying technical notes.

Revenue expenditure financing in 2023-24 and 2024-25

Table 4b shows the funding of revenue expenditure by detailed category in 2023-24 and 2024-25. Analysis of these figures is included in the following section. Table 4a, which is the equivalent table without adjustment for inflation, is available in the accompanying spreadsheet workbook copies of the tables.

Table 4b: Revenue expenditure financing, England, 2023-24 and 2024-25

£ million - adjusted for inflation, in 2024-25 prices

Service Category	Net current expenditure 2023-24 £m	Net current expenditure 2024-25 £m	Change £m	Change %
Revenue expenditure	130,641	134,966	4,325	3.3
Financed by:
Government Grants	68,816	72,061	3,245	4.7
of which: Specific grants inside AEF [note 1]	57,657	60,709	3,052	5.3
including: Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG)	31,229	32,715	1,486	4.8
Public Health Grant [note 2]	3,435	3,445	10	0.3
Pupil Premium Grant	1,391	1,224	-167	-12.0
New Homes Bonus	300	295	-5	-1.7
Improved Better Care Fund	2,132	2,037	-96	-4.5
Homelessness Prevention Grant including Winter Top Up	381	395	14	3.7
Social Care Grant	4,006	5,044	1,038	25.9
ASC Market Sustainability and Improvement Fund [note 9]	673	1,050	377	56.0
Adult Social Care Discharge Fund	319	499	180	56.4
Revenue Support Grant	2,022	2,127	105	5.2
Police grant	9,110	9,200	90	1.0
Council tax requirement	40,295	41,222	927	2.3
Retained income from Business Rate Retention Scheme [notes 3,4]	19,549	20,237	688	3.5
Adjusted appropriations to(-) / from (+) revenue reserves [note 5]	1,085	787	-298	-27.4
Of which: Appropriations to (-) / from (+) schools reserves	68	207	139	205.9
Appropriations to (-) / from (+) dedicated schools grant reserves	-73	151	225	-306.5
Appropriations to (-) / from (+) public health reserves	28	15	-13	-46.8
Appropriations to (-) / from (+) other earmarked reserves (adjusted)	1,255	797	-458	-36.5
Appropriations to (-) / from (+) unallocated reserves	-192	-382	-190	98.7
Council tax collection fund surplus (+) / deficit (-) [note 6]	403	341	-63	-15.6
Other items	298	379	81	27.2
Appropriations to(-) / from (+) revenue reserves Dedicated schools grant adjustment account [note 7]	703	1,568	865	123.1

Notes:

1. Specific grants inside AEF also includes the following grants: Private Finance Initiative (PFI), Universal Infants Free School Meals and Housing Benefit Subsidy Admin Grant, and all Other grants inside AEF. Please see the Specific and Special Revenue Grants data table (‘RG’) for more detail.
2. Previously, Public Health Grant allocations for the Metropolitan Districts of Greater Manchester were not shown as these have been foregone in return for higher income retained from business rates under the devolution deal for the Greater Manchester area. In 2024-25 they are reported as they received a one-off public health grant payment to include the additional in-year cost impact of the NHS pay awards for health services commissioned by local authorities. See public health ring fenced grant financial year 2024 to 2025 local authority circular.
3. Accountancy regulations required compensatory COVID business rate relief grants that were paid in 2020-21 and 2021-22 to be recorded in reserves until they were used, typically in the following year, but also some smaller amounts being used only in subsequent years. For 2023-24, the amounts in the line “Of which COVID-19 business rates” were subtracted from “Appropriations to/from other earmarked reserves” and instead added to the row showing the adjusted total “Retained income from Business Rates Retention Scheme”.
4. Business rates income is reported as a single item in this data set. See also the data provided by local authorities in detailed data returns on non-domestic rates.
5. Movements to and from reserves have been adjusted for timing effects of grants relating to COVID to make them as comparable as possible over time. No adjustments have been made for 2024-25.
6. Council Tax collection fund surplus/deficit includes net collection fund surpluses/deficits from the previous year.
7. Appropriations to/from the Dedicated Schools grant adjustment account is shown for transparency. It is netted off from local authorities’ expenditure in the calculation of Revenue Expenditure.

Revenue expenditure financing trend over recent years

Table 5 shows funding of revenue expenditure since 2020-21 in terms of the broad categories of government grants and locally retained income (retained income from rate retention scheme and Council Tax), as well as whether overall local authorities have made net appropriations to or from reserves.

From 2014-15 onwards local authorities became more reliant on locally retained income because business rates moved from being a centrally redistributed function to one where authorities retain a percentage of what they collect.

The proportion of revenue expenditure (excluding use of reserves and council tax collection fund surplus) funded from grants had fallen from 65.4% in 2013-14 to 49.9% in 2019-20, with corresponding increases in the income retained by local authorities. Since 2017-18, some authorities have been able to retain more than a 50% share of local business rates revenue in deals foregoing particular grants. Additionally, single year rate retention pilots took place in 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20, where different authorities and different percentage shares were involved. This led to a marked increase in retained business rates income and a similar decrease in Revenue Support Grant income in these years.

In 2020-21, local authorities received additional grant funding in response to COVID-19 which increased the proportion of revenue expenditure funded from grants to 56.8%. In 2024-25, this had fallen back slightly to 54.0%.

The increases over the years in Council tax requirement is the result of the combination of growth in tax base and in levels of council tax.

Table 5: Financing of revenue expenditure, England, since 2020-21

£ million - not adjusted for inflation

Outturn	Revenue Expenditure £m	Government Grants (adjusted) £m [note 1]	% of Total [note 2]	Retained income from Business Rate Retention Scheme [note 3] £m	Of which: COVID-19 business rates relief grants from reserves £m [note 4]	Council Tax £m	Locally retained income £m	% of Total [note 2]2	Adjusted use of Reserves £m [note 5,6]	Council Tax, Collection Fund Surplus and Other items £m [note 7]
2020-21	109,676	65,741	56.8	16,882	[z]	33,141	50,023	43.2	-4,778	139
2021-22	111,111	63,065	54.8	17,663	5,866	34,434	52,098	45.2	-3,078	-892
2022-23	117,265	62,643	54.3	16,374	2,800	36,313	52,687	45.7	1,944	-10
2023-24	125,534	66,126	53.5	18,785	144	38,720	57,505	46.6	1,043	674
2024-25	134,966	72,061	54.0	20,237	[z]	41,222	61,460	46.0	787	719

Notes:

1. Includes non-specific grants like Revenue Support Grant and Police Grant as well as all the various ‘Specific grants inside aggregate external finance’.
2. As a percentage of total expenditure excluding use of reserves and Council Tax Collection Fund surplus and other items.
3. Business rates income is reported as a single item in this data set. See also the data provided by local authorities in detailed data returns on non-domestic rates.
4. A minority of authorities under-reported in this sub-category but this should not have affected the other figures.
5. Use of Reserves includes appropriations to (-) and from (+) all categories of Revenue Account reserves.
6. Movements to and from reserves have been adjusted for timing effects of grants relating to COVID to make them as comparable as possible over time. No adjustments have been made for 2024-25.
7. A number of authorities reported charges in 2021-22 in respect of collection fund deficits.

[z] Not applicable for this year.

Reserves

Reserves are funds set aside to finance future expenditure, often for liabilities, expected pressures or other contingencies.

Table 6 shows the level of authority revenue reserves from 2020-21 to 2024-25. The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) also has reserves figures which are covered in the section below.

As noted in the section ‘Revenue Expenditure Financing’, reserves figures in the summary tables in this publication are presented adjusted for timing effects of grants relating to COVID, particularly additional business rates relief grants. This is so that the figures are as comparable as possible to other periods. There were nevertheless larger than usual discrepancies between 2020-21 and 2022-23, for example between reported reserves levels at the end of one financial year and the start of the next.

Notwithstanding these data quality considerations, it is clear that local authority reserves increased during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, with non-ringfenced reserves rising to £33.9 billion at 31 March 2022. Non-ringfenced reserves have fallen in each year since and are estimated to be £30.2 billion at 31 March 2025, a decrease of £415 million since 1 April 2024.

Table 6: Level of revenue reserves, England, since 2020-21

£ million - not adjusted for inflation

Outturn	Schools reserves	Dedicated schools grant adjustment account level	Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) reserves [note 2]	Public Health reserves	Adjusted Other earmarked reserves [note 1]	Unallocated reserves	Adjusted non-ringfenced reserves Total [note 1]	Adjusted Total (excluding DSG) Reserves [note 1, 2]
At 1 April:
2020	1,521	[z]	-364	216	20,125	4,668	24,794	26,531
2021	2,133	[z]	-61	387	25,964	5,187	31,151	33,671
2022	2,289	[G]	[G]	538	27,912	5,492	33,404	36,230
2023	2,102	-1,652	562	573	26,746	4,745	31,491	34,166
2024	2,032	-2,389	602	553	25,732	4,911	30,644	33,228
At 31 March:
2021	2,136	[z]	-267	381	24,550	5,473	30,024	32,540
2022	2,283	[z]	-50	533	28,482	5,448	33,930	36,746
2023	2,111	[G]	[G]	567	26,474	5,056	31,531	34,208
2024	2,037	-2,333	632	546	25,401	4,943	30,344	32,928
2025	1,825	-3,957	451	538	24,936	5,293	30,229	32,592
Changes in 2024-25
Movements to (+) and from (-) reserves [note 3]	-207	-1,568	-151	-15	-797	382	-415	-636
as a percentage of
1 April 2024	-10.2%	65.6%	-25.1%	-2.7%	-3.1%	7.8%	-1.4%	-1.9%
England reserves excluding Greater London Authority
Movements to (+) and from (-) reserves	-207	-1,568	-151	-15	-485	294	-191	-413
as a percentage of
1 April 2024	-10.2%	65.6%	-25.1%	-2.7%	-2.0%	6.4%	-0.7%	-1.3%

Notes:

1. Movements to and from reserves have been adjusted for timing effects of grants relating to COVID to make them as comparable as possible over time. No adjustments have been made for 2024-25. A small number of minor inconsistencies remain between the changes in level of reserves and the appropriations reported by local authorities; these are the cause of the slight difference between the related quantities in this table and in Table 4.
2. Dedicated Schools Grant was introduced in this return in 2018-19. It was previously collected and continues to be collected in the Department for Education’s Section 251 return.

[G]. The reserves levels category ‘Dedicated Schools Grant Adjustment Account’ was introduced for 2022-23.The definition of RS797 and RS912 in the RO Specific Guidance links to explanatory references. Authorities should report deficits in this category, and surpluses in ‘Dedicated Schools Grant Reserves’, as per accounting regulations. Previously many authorities reported both in the latter category, and the data for 2022-23 indicates that some authorities had not yet reported using the categories correctly. Consequently no England estimate was made for 2022-23 for either category.

[z] Not applicable for this year

Housing Revenue Account

Housing revenue accounts (HRAs) are ring-fenced accounts held by local authorities to record income and expenditure related to housing stock which they own. Any surplus or deficit within the account must be added to or drawn from a ring-fenced HRA reserve.

In 2024-25, local authorities with HRAs recorded £10.5 billion in expenditure and £10.6 billion in income, leaving a surplus of £64.9 million. This compares to a deficit of £107.0 million in 2023-24.

At 31st March 2025, the total amount held in HRA reserves was £2.7 billion.

Accompanying tables

Tables

Accompanying tables presenting detailed revenue expenditure and financing figures for 2024-25 for all returns from local authorities received in time for this publication are available to download alongside this release.

These tables present all revenue information, by local authority, in a similar format as returned to the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government. This data forms the basis of the tables in this release.

Description	Form
Revenue Outturn Summary	RS
Service Expenditure Summary	RSX
Specific and Special Revenue Grants	RG
Education Services	RO1
Highways and Transport Services	RO2
Social Care and Public Health	RO3
Housing Services	RO4
Cultural, Environmental, Regulatory and Planning Services	RO5
Protective, Central and Other Services	RO6
Trading Services Revenue Account	TSR

The detailed grants table will be published alongside these tables in the December 2025 release.

The Subjective Analysis Return table is normally published with the second release. In 2024-25, only Part A is being collected. This is as per the normal cycle by which parts B&C are collected only every third year and are due to be collected next for 2025-26.

Symbols used

[x]   =   not available
0    =   zero or negligible
[z]     =   not applicable for this year
(R)  =   Revised since the last statistical release

Rounding

Where figures have been rounded, there may be a slight discrepancy between the total and the sum of constituent parts.

Technical Notes

Please see the accompanying technical notes document for further details.

Information on Official Statistics is available via the UK Statistics Authority website.

Information about statistics at MHCLG is available via the Ministry’s website .