Pothole damage is costing UK drivers £500 each – now councils must prove they are fixing roads properly
Key Points
- From September 2026, councils in England must publish transparency reports showing how well they repair roads and prevent repeat potholes.
- Councils that fail to comply lose nearly a third of their highways maintenance funding.
- The government says pothole damage costs UK motorists an average of £500, and a record £7.3 billion in long-term road funding is now in place.
- The rules build on an April 2026 measure withholding up to £524 million from underperforming councils.
Councils in England will be forced to publicly demonstrate how well they repair their roads under new reporting requirements issued by the government on Tuesday (9 June).
Those that fail to comply face losing nearly a third of this year’s highways maintenance funding.
The government said the rules will require councils to show, for the first time, how effectively they fix potholes and what they are doing to avoid repeat visits to the same stretch of road.
The aim is to encourage full resurfacing and long-term preventative repairs over short-term “patch-up” fixes.
The transparency reports will be published in September 2026, allowing everyone in England to see how well their council is tackling potholes and how many of their roads are due for resurfacing.
According to the government, pothole-related damage costs motorists an average of £500. Roads and Buses Minister Simon Lightwood said the new approach was intended to keep that money in drivers’ pockets.
“With pothole-related damage costing an average of £500, today’s action means safer, smoother drives and keeps that cash in your wallet,” he said.
He added that motorists had long been frustrated by short-term work being prioritised over lasting repairs.
“For the first time not only will councils need to show just how many potholes they are filling in, but what they are doing to avoid going back to fix the same pothole time and again – something which understandably infuriates drivers,” he said.
The government said the cost of poor roads is also felt by emergency services and organ donation charities, which it said are in some cases forced to spend thousands of pounds a year repairing their vehicles.
Funding withheld from councils which fail to report
Councils that do not follow the new guidance, or fail to publish their reports on time, will have almost a third of this year’s funding held back, the government said.
The measure builds on action announced in April, when the government said up to a third of the £1.6 billion in highways funding for local authorities – £524 million – would be withdrawn unless councils could prove they were meeting strict requirements.
The government said a record £7.3 billion in long-term funding is now in place for local authorities to repair their roads. It said this funding, alongside greater accountability through new red/amber/green (RAG) ratings, is showing for the first time how effectively local authorities are spending the money.
The new guidance will be used to update the RAG ratings the government first published earlier this year. Green-rated authorities were those that demonstrated they were following best practice, such as investing in long-term pothole prevention and full resurfacing rather than patching.
All red-rated councils are receiving additional support, including a total of £300,000 worth of expert help to raise their standards, according to the government.
Industry backing for long-term repairs
RAC Head of Policy Simon Williams welcomed the focus on lasting fixes over temporary ones.
“Aside from potholes themselves, there’s nothing that annoys drivers more than ones that have been poorly repaired and become potholes again in a matter of weeks or months,” Williams said. “Bad repairs are a waste of time and money, so it’s positive the government is prioritising long-term fixes over short-term patching and dashing.”
He said potholes posed a serious safety danger to those on two wheels and caused expensive vehicle damage, describing the state of Britain’s roads as drivers’ biggest gripe.
The government said the guidance was developed alongside local authorities and sector leaders, with input from bodies including the Local Councils Roads Innovation Group and the UK Roads Leadership Group Asset Management Board.
Kerry Winstanley, Managing Director at the Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG), said the guidance represented a significant step forward in how road maintenance performance is measured and reported.
“Through extensive collaboration between government and local authorities, we have helped develop a clearer and more consistent approach that will make future red, amber, green (RAG) ratings more measurable, comparable, and meaningful across the country,” Winstanley said.
She said better and more consistent data would help ensure investment decisions are targeted where they can have the greatest impact.
Hannah Bartram, Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT), said the organisation fully supported greater transparency and the focus on preventative maintenance.
“The new funding and reporting requirements are positive steps in the right direction,” Bartram said. She added that ADEPT was particularly pleased the guidance recognised its Carbon Leadership Programme and Live Labs 2 programme, embedding decarbonisation and innovation into how councils report on highways maintenance.
