Issued by: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, and the Environment Agency

Almost £8 billion to be invested in flood defences over the next decade

The largest flooding programme in history will be announced by government this week, with a record £7.9 billion committed over ten years to protect hundreds of thousands of homes, small businesses, and vital infrastructure from the growing threat of flooding.

From high-performance flood barriers to nature-based solutions like wetland restoration, the programme will deliver long-term protection for communities and strengthen local economies – delivering on the government’s Plan for Change.

This comes as the government gears up to announcing its landmark Infrastructure Strategy – a targeted, long-term plan to invest in Britain. The Strategy focuses on ensuring every penny of taxpayer money spent delivers real returns for working people, through stronger local economies, better jobs and more resilient communities.

The new flooding programme is proof of that strategy in action. Every £1 spent on flood defences expected to prevent around £8 in economic damage, meaning significant savings for public services, such as the NHS and schools.

The major funding pledge will bolster the government’s mission of accelerating economic growth, by reducing the time and costs businesses face when recovering from floods and empowering them to invest in local areas.

Environment Secretary Steve Reed said:

"Protecting citizens is the first duty of any Government. Yet we inherited crumbling flood defences in their worst condition on record – exposing thousands of homes.

"Under the Plan for Change, this Government is taking urgent action with the largest flooding programme in our country’s history.

"We will leave no stone unturned to protect our citizens."

Philip Duffy, chief executive at the Environment Agency, said:

"As our changing climate continues to bring more extreme weather to the nation, it’s never been more vital to invest in new flood defences and repair our existing assets.

"This long-term investment will be welcome news for businesses and homeowners, who have too often faced the destructive nature of flooding. Our priority will continue to be working with the government and local authorities to ensure as many properties are protected as possible."

The investment will also continue the government’s plans to protect cities and towns from the devastating impacts of floodings, including from Oxford to Portsmouth and up to Derby and Blackpool.

In the Spending Review, the Government also confirmed that £4.2 billion will be spent on the flooding programme over the next three years (2026/7 to 2028/9), which will be focused on both capital and resources such as building new defences and repairing and maintaining existing ones.

Alongside this, the Government launched a consultation (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/reforms-to-bolster-flood-protection-for-communities-across-the-country) on new proposals to introduce a simplified, more transparent approach to bid for government funding for flood defences. This will benefit councils that have less resource to commit to the application process and will ensure money is distributed more effectively across the country.

Additional information

• In the Spending Review, the Government set out the breakdown of funding for flood defences over the next three years as part of the Spending Review (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/spending-review-2025). The £4.2 billion that will be spent over this SR period (2026/27- 2028/29) includes capital and resource spending, whereas the £7.9 billion ten-year settlement is solely capital spending – meaning the total spent on boosting resilience will be higher, subject to future Spending Reviews.

• The £7.9 billion does not include spending on routine maintenance and incident management activities.

• This Government inherited flood assets in their poorest condition on record following years of under investment and has committed a record two-year investment of £2.65 billion with 52,000 properties set to benefit from new defences by March 2026.

• This £2.65 billion funding for 2024/25 to 2025/26 is not included in the long-term flooding programme – it is additional: Record investment to protect thousands of UK homes and businesses - GOV.UK (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/record-investment-to-protect-thousands-of-uk-homes-and-businesses)

• Assessments show that for every £1 invested in flood defences, around £8 of damages are prevented – of which roughly £3 are direct savings to the Exchequer because around 36% of the damages caused by floods are to publicly owned infrastructure like roads, railways, schools, and hospitals.

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