Business Rates
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what was the cost to the department of correcting errors in the transitional arrangements for councils in business rates pools in the draft Local Government Funding Settlement for the 2026-29 period.
Answered by Alison McGovern
In response to the provisional Local Government Finance consultation, the final Settlement included an update to how pooling gains are estimated for transitional funding arrangements. This decision was the right approach in order to distribute gains more equitably, improving how representative the assumption is of local arrangements.
To help local authorities adjust for this, the government provided a one-off Adjustment Support Grant in 2026-27 to authorities who would otherwise see their Core Spending Power reduce in 2026-27, compared to indicative provisional Settlement allocations. In total, £116.1 million was made available through this grant to support the change of approach. Details of individual allocations are published on gov.uk here.
The 2027-28 and 2028-29 Settlements will be subject to consultation as is the usual process.
Verbatim has judged this answer against the question that was actually asked — answered, partly answered, or evaded. Sign in to see the verdict →