According to legislation.gov.uk, the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 (Commencement No. 4) Regulations 2026 were made on 28 October 2026 and bring section 12 of the parent Act into force on 13 November 2026. The instrument was signed by Jim McMahon, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The Regulations are tightly drawn. They do not set a new precept, alter any rate or create a new charge by themselves. Their sole legal effect is to commence section 12 on a specified date.
Section 12 is the provision dealing with precepts for mayoral combined authorities and CCAs. The Explanatory Note published with the instrument states that, once commenced, it will amend section 40 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, section 107G of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 and section 41 of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023. The note also sets out the central policy change. The amendments remove the restriction under which precepts could be issued only in respect of mayoral functions. At the same time, they preserve the requirement for a separate component where the mayor exercises police and crime commissioner functions.
In local government finance, a precept is the amount a billing authority collects through council tax on behalf of another authority. In practical terms, section 12 widens the legal basis on which a mayoral combined authority or mayoral CCA can issue that charge. Before commencement, the legislation limits the precept to spending tied to mayoral functions. From 13 November 2026, that restriction falls away, while the policing element remains separately identified. For finance teams, the immediate effect is structural rather than fiscal. Authorities will need to ensure budget papers, council tax resolutions and billing arrangements reflect the amended statutory position where relevant.
The preserved police and crime commissioner component is a significant part of the drafting. Where a mayor exercises PCC functions, the charge linked to those functions must still appear as a separate component rather than being absorbed into a wider general precept. For billing authorities and taxpayers, that keeps a clear line of sight over policing costs even as the wider restriction on mayoral-function precepts is removed. For combined authorities, it also reduces the risk of confusion between general mayoral spending and funding connected to PCC responsibilities.
The Explanatory Note says no separate impact assessment has been produced because no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen. Instead, the Government directs readers to the impact assessment prepared for the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 as a whole. That indicates ministers are treating the instrument as a commencement measure rather than a stand-alone reform package. The practical work now sits with authorities and billing bodies that need to apply section 12 once it takes effect.
These Regulations are the fourth commencement instrument made under the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 (c. 23). That sequencing matters because commencement regulations are the mechanism used to bring selected sections of an Act into force on different dates. For local government officers, combined authority finance leads and council tax practitioners, the date to note is 13 November 2026. From that day, section 12 will be in force in England, changing the rules on mayoral precepts while preserving a separate policing component where that function sits with the mayor.