The National Federation of Builders (NFB) has released a report that asks “where is the money going?”
Section 106 and CIL: Developers Pay, but where is the money going? Is the latest report from the NFB that asks where over £9bn in unspent developer contributions has gone.
The money is spread across local authorities in England and Wales, and has been building up for around seven years.
Language and data are inconsistent
The report highlights how Infrastructure Funding Statements (IFS) are confusing and vary across local planning authorities. In 2019, the government agreed that all councils should publish their developer contributions via IFS, but the NFB have found that IFS shows money allocated to projects with no timeline or delivery requirement.
The NFB has made five recommendations to the government to improve the situation and tackle the amount of money stagnating in LPA coffers:
- Infrastructure Funding Statements (IFS) are publicly searchable on a national database.
- Local Planning Authorities are required to present their IFS using a standardised format and language.
- LPAs publish ‘storyboards’ which identify funding sources and provide project delivery timelines.
- Unspent contributions (defined as non-allocated funds or projects that have not been delivered within projected timeframes) are automatically returned to developers after a period of five years.
- In areas with combined authorities (CA), unspent LPA planning contributions can be transferred to CA’s for a further two years before being automatically returned to developers (if still unspent).
“The government must standardise the IFS reporting process”
Richard Beresford, chief executive of the NFB, said: “Developers keep paying for infrastructure, but communities don’t always get it delivered. Our report highlights how we can increase accountability for delivery and recommends ways that the government can ensure this tax on development operates more fairly.”
Rico Wojtulewicz, director of policy and market insight at the NFB, said: “Developers keep paying but communities keep missing out, therefore the Government must ensure that the billions of pounds collected in infrastructure taxes starts delivering infrastructure.
“Housebuilders are paying increasing amounts in interest payments and government taxes, yet councils up and down the country and earning interest from allocated but unspent contributions, such as the £558,000 for SEN in Herefordshire, £53m for education in Leicestershire and £2.3m for healthcare in Cornwall.
“To start fixing this egregious situation, the Government must standardise the IFS reporting process, automatically return unspent levies and introduce a requirement to deliver so that local people can see how these contributions have been allocated and know when a project will be completed.”
Earlier this year, the Home Builders Federation (HBF) updated their own report which found the same result in £9bn in unspent funds across the UK, and that this number had grown in the year 2025-2026 by £1bn.
“A capacity crisis in local government”
Neil Jefferson, chief executive of the Home Builders Federation, said: “The balance of unspent developer contributions rising to £9bn in Local Authority accounts provides further evidence of a capacity crisis in local government and should be a major cause of concern for local communities and for ministers.
“This money should be funding schools, healthcare, affordable housing and other essential local infrastructure, yet billions sit idle, in some cases for over five years. Investment in new housing brings huge economic and social benefits, but far too many of these advantages are going unseen by local communities.
“It’s great that government has, in recent weeks, taken some action in supporting local authority funding, but the underutilisation of developer contributions is a damming indictment on the ability of local councils to deliver to their communities. Urgent action is needed to ensure this money is spent promptly, supporting communities, improving local services, and driving growth.
“New homes should be providing benefits for both new and existing residents, but the ongoing failure of local government to use this money is undermining support for new housing and threatens the government’s ambition to build 1.5m homes this Parliament.”
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