On 15 September 2026 the government confirmed a £91 million transformation fund for 14 councils in England already receiving Exceptional Financial Support. According to the government announcement, the money is intended for service redesign in the authorities facing the sharpest financial strain, rather than another short-term budget patch. Exceptional Financial Support is used where a council is under acute pressure and needs help to balance its books. Ministers are presenting this fund as a route out of repeat emergency interventions, with investment directed at the service lines that now drive the biggest overspends.
The funding will be spread over two years, with £41 million in 2026-27 and £50 million in 2027-28. The stated purpose is to finance planned projects in adult social care, children’s services, temporary accommodation and SEND-related pressures so councils can lower costs without withdrawing statutory provision. That matters because the authorities in scope are not facing a single deficit event. They are dealing with sustained cost growth, especially where high-need cases, external placements, housing demand or fragmented case management push spending higher year after year. The government is therefore framing the programme as service transformation, not simple deficit cover.
In Redbridge, the government said funding will support AI-enabled technology and home-based devices intended to help residents live independently for longer by detecting and preventing falls. The policy case is straightforward: if early intervention reduces avoidable hospital admissions or care escalation, pressure on adult social care budgets may ease over time. Stoke-on-Trent is using the fund for a redesign of frontline social work, with a model focused on keeping families together where it is safe to do so. For councils, that points to a familiar financial test: whether better family support earlier in the process can reduce reliance on higher-cost interventions later.
West Berkshire’s allocation is tied to a single route into children’s services, bringing together SEND, Early Help and Children’s Social Care so families do not have to move between separate systems. The government’s description suggests an operating model built around quicker triage and better co-ordination between teams, which may shorten delays and reduce duplicated work. Brighton & Hove is piloting closer alignment between its reablement service and NHS provision, with the aim of helping people return home sooner after illness or a hospital stay. Trafford, meanwhile, is using the programme to improve technology and AI-supported case handling, including a newer core system designed to bring council information into one place.
In Haringey, the announcement links the funding to temporary accommodation reform, including the purchase of homes, reduced use of external providers and stronger support to move households into settled housing. That is significant because temporary accommodation has become one of the fastest-growing budget pressures across English local government, particularly in boroughs with high housing costs. Bradford’s project centres on SEND transport, capacity planning, educational psychology support and dispute resolution. Taken together, those measures point to an effort to control a service area where costs are often driven by fragmented planning, rising need and legal duties that councils cannot simply defer.
The largest total allocation goes to Bradford at £12.7 million, followed by Stoke-on-Trent at £9.14 million. Redbridge and Trafford each receive £7.5 million, Havering £6.75 million, Lambeth £6.6 million, Brighton & Hove £6.4 million, Sefton £6.2 million, Waltham Forest £6.14 million and the Isle of Wight £6 million. West Berkshire is allocated £5 million, Redcar and Cleveland £4.8 million, Haringey £4.79 million and the Isles of Scilly £1 million. The full recipient list is Bradford, Brighton & Hove, Haringey, Havering, Isle of Wight, Isles of Scilly, Lambeth, Redbridge, Redcar and Cleveland, Sefton, Stoke-on-Trent, Trafford, Waltham Forest and West Berkshire.
In the government communication, Minister for Local Government, Devolution and Regional Growth Jim McMahon said councils had been carrying severe pressure from rising demand in care and temporary accommodation alongside weaknesses in the funding system. His argument was that targeted reform funding should help authorities move away from repeated exceptional support while wider changes to local government finance continue. The same announcement says lessons from the 14 councils will be used to judge what works, what fails and how future support should be directed. That places the programme in a dual role: immediate help for authorities already under strain, and a live test of which operating changes can be repeated elsewhere.
The fund also sits within a broader package the government says is intended to put council finance on a more stable basis. The announcement points to the Recovery Grant, the Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant and the Children and Families Grant, as well as the first multi-year Local Government Finance Settlement in a decade, published in February. Ministers also linked the measure to reforms in children’s services, homelessness and rough sleeping, and to the decision to write off 90 per cent of councils’ historic SEND deficits. For councils, taxpayers and service users, the central point is clear: the £91 million will not by itself remove financial risk, but it may give a small group of authorities space to redesign the services where the pressure is most acute and the cost of doing nothing is highest.