Local Government Finance Settlement 2023/24

This briefing paper sets out the details of the Local Government Finance Settlement for England for the 2023/24 financial year. The Settlement distributes a range of grant funds to all local authorities in England. The provisional Settlement was published on 19 December 2022, alongside a Written Ministerial Statement. The final version of the Settlement was published on 6 February 2023, and will go before the House of Commons for approval on Wednesday 8 February 2023.

In 2023/24, the final settlement includes £17.1 billion in settlement funding (which consists of Revenue Support Grant and redistributed business rates revenue). This is a cash terms increase of £789 million (4.8%) on the previous year.

Core spending power (an estimate of the total amount of money that councils have to take decisions, including council tax revenue) increased by rather more than this in the final settlement, going up by £5.1 billion (9.4%) to a total of £59.7 billion.

_{Source: DLUHC, Final local government finance settlement: England, 2023 to 2024, 6 February 2022}

This briefing paper explains a number of elements within the 2023/24 settlement. These include the Government’s funding guarantee for local authorities; the provisions for referendums on council tax increases; provisions for social care funding; and the contents of the Government’s policy statement for local government funding for financial years 2023/24 and 2024/25. It then analyses the distribution of funds for 2023/24 between different classes of authority (shire districts, shire county councils, unitary authorities and metropolitan districts, and London boroughs).

Local government finance is devolved to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Local Government Finance Settlement covers England only and is managed by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC).

Supporting data covering settlement funding and core spending power, in nominal terms, real terms and per-person terms, can be downloaded from this page. Other data from this briefing is available on request.