Councils could lose road funding if they fail to fix potholes

Consumer Editor

16th Apr 2026

Councils in England risk losing a third of their £1.6 billion funding if they don’t fix potholes properly.

The measure is part of a new set of rules that councils will face on how they use funding to repair and maintain local roads.

According to Government data, pothole damage costs the average driver around £500 in avoidable repairs.

If councils fail to meet the new required standards, £525 million in funding could be withheld unless they can prove that they are carrying out the necessary maintenance.

This means that councils will have to publish reports on their spending – ensuring that all their highways funding is used purely on road maintenance.

New data from the RAC on pothole-related breakdowns in the UK shows pothole-related breakdowns are getting worse.

Near constant rain in the first two months of the year led to a sudden spike in drivers being caught out by potholes hidden in puddles.

Reports to the RAC from broken-down drivers about potholes in February 2026 averaged 225 per day. That’s nearly three and a half times the 66 per day seen in the same month last year and more than five times the 43 per day recorded throughout all of 2025.

In all of February, 6,290 RAC members mentioned potholes to the RAC when logging their breakdowns via the myRAC app or on the phone, compared to just 1,842 in the same month in 2025.

Reports of potholes peaked at 336 drivers on Friday 6 February – more than 2.5 times as many as the highest number seen last year (141 on 19 December).

January saw 5,106 mentions – an average of 165 per day compared to just 63 in January 2025 – making for a total of 11,396 so far in 2026, an average of 193 per day.

Roads and Buses Minister, Simon Lightwood, said: “We’ve made it crystal clear that councils that fail to maintain their roads will now risk losing up to a third of their funding.

These measures should go a long way to addressing the poor condition of local roads, which we know from research for the RAC report on motoring is drivers’ number one concern. Ensuring money that is given to councils to improve their roads is actually spent on roads is critical, so the government’s focus on this will be welcomed by drivers. And, while fixing dangerous potholes is vital, it’s also very positive to see councils being encouraged to carry out preventative maintenance work, which will stop potholes forming in the future. Having the certainty of funding over the next 5 years for councils to plan proper maintenance programmes should result in better quality roads for all.