Section 88B: Special grants., Local Government Finance Act 1988

The Secretary of State may, with the consent of the Treasury, pay a grant (in this section referred to as a special grant) in accordance with this section to a relevant authority.

Where the Secretary of State proposes to make one special grant he shall, before making the grant, make a determination stating with respect to the grant—

to which authority it is to be paid,

the purpose for which it is to be paid, and

the amount of the grant or the manner in which the amount is to be calculated.

Where the Secretary of State proposes to make two or more special grants to different authorities he shall, before making the grants, make a determination stating with respect to the grants—

to which authorities they are to be paid,

the purpose for which they are to be paid, and

either—

the amount of the grant which he proposes to pay to each authority or the manner in which the amount is to be calculated, or

the total amount which he proposes to distribute among the authorities by way of special grants and the basis on which he proposes to distribute that amount.

A determination under subsection (2) or (3) above shall be made with the consent of the Treasury and shall be specified in a report (to be called a special grant report) which shall contain such explanation as the Secretary of State considers desirable of the main features of the determination.

A special grant report shall be laid before the House of Commons and, as soon as is reasonably practicable after the report has been so laid, the Secretary of State shall send a copy of it to any relevant authority to whom a special grant is proposed to be paid in accordance with the determination in the report.

No special grant shall be paid unless the special grant report containing the determination relating to the grant has been approved by a resolution of the House of Commons.

A special grant report may specify conditions which the Secretary of State, with the consent of the Treasury, intends to impose on the payment of (or of any instalment of) any special grant to which the report relates; and the conditions may—

require the provision of returns or other information before a payment is made to the relevant authority concerned, or

relate to the use of the amount paid, or to the repayment in specified circumstances of all or part of the amount paid, or otherwise.

Without prejudice to compliance with any conditions imposed as mentioned in subsection (7) above, a special grant shall be paid at such time or in instalments of such amounts and at such times as the Secretary of State may, with the consent of the Treasury, determine.

For the purposes of this section each of the following is a relevant authority—

a receiving authority;

an Integrated Transport Authority for an integrated transport area in England;

a combined authority established under section 103 of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009;

a combined county authority established under section 9(1) of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023.

In the application of this section in relation to Wales, "relevant authority" means only a police and crime commissioner.

Section 88B: Special grants.

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