These Regulations are technical on paper but significant in effect. They sit behind section 12 of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026, which removed the old rule that precepts for mayoral combined authorities and mayoral combined county authorities could be issued only for mayoral functions. The Act's explanatory notes say the mayoral precept can now be used across all functions of those authorities. (legislation.gov.uk)
That means the instrument is not a fresh policy announcement about whether combined authorities should levy a precept. The policy choice was already made in primary legislation. What this statutory instrument does is bring older finance legislation into line with that change. Under the Combined Authorities (Finance) Order 2017, the relevant provisions were framed around the costs of a mayor and the exercise of mayoral functions. Those are the concepts now being replaced with references to the functions of the authority. (legislation.gov.uk)
That drafting shift matters because the 2017 Order is part of the machinery for precepts, budget calculations and related council tax arrangements. Once the legal basis for the precept moved beyond mayoral functions, the secondary legislation had to move as well. In practical terms, the budget-setting framework can now be read on an authority-wide basis rather than through a narrower mayoral lens. (legislation.gov.uk)
The West of England provision is the other live point. The original West of England Combined Authority Order 2017 contained a bespoke restriction in article 6(6), treating section 39(1)(ab) of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 as if the authority were excluded from the relevant precepting-authority provision. The new Regulations remove that paragraph. In policy terms, that draws West of England closer to the general finance framework now applying across the mayoral devolution model. (legislation.gov.uk)
For finance directors, monitoring officers and constituent councils, the immediate consequence is about legal footing rather than instant spending decisions. The change should make budget papers, precept calculations and supporting explanations easier to align with what the authority actually does. In effect, the combined authority share raised through the precept can now be justified against the authority's functions more broadly, subject to the ordinary budget and scrutiny process. (legislation.gov.uk)
The wider message is that devolution finance law is still being standardised after Royal Assent to the 2026 Act. Parliament's publications for that Act show that the Government paired the primary legislation with formal impact work, while the Act itself includes powers for consequential amendment so that older secondary legislation can be updated after the main reform has passed. That is the role this instrument performs: modest in drafting terms, but material for how English combined authorities frame and fund their functions. (bills.parliament.uk)