Local authorities need more funding to improve road safety

Government recently pledged an additional £1.6bn to tackle the pothole plague that some are calling a “national embarrassment”. However, this won’t begin to put a dent in the backlog of potholes that plague the nation as it’s estimated that £15.6billion¹ is needed to repair the local road network.

Ahead of the Spending Review, Zurich Municipal is calling for the government to increase local authorities funding to improve the local road network and give them the flexibility to use the budget to prioritise repairs where they are needed most and improve road safety.

Back-log of potholes need repairing from 2024

A Freedom of Information² request by the public sector insurer suggests local authorities are fighting a never-ending battle to repair potholes, as more than 38,000 potholes from 2024 are still waiting to be fixed.

Peak time of year for pothole prangs

While potholes have always plagued Britain’s roads, it appears the problem is worsening. According to claims data³, Zurich Municipal saw a 19% increase in pothole related claims in 2024 now totalling 10,648.

The data also suggests that motorists are most likely to hit a defect in the road in the first quarter of the year as the insurer handled more than 5,000 claims for damage to tyres, alloys and car suspensions during this period. March is the most common month for motorists to flag pothole prangs to councils. In fact, Zurich handled more than 2,300 claims for damage to vehicles during this month last year, a 181% spike.

A pothole can form from general wear and tear or when water leaks into cracks and freezes in cold temperatures. When the weather starts to get warmer, the frozen water evaporates leaving gaps in the road. These gaps get continuously bigger as more and more vehicles drive over them. Intense variations in weather is also playing a role in declining road conditions.

Analysis of claims data⁴ shows that defects in roads caused more than £2.6m worth of damage to drivers’ cars in 2024, with the average cost being around £600.

Alix Bedford, risk expert at Zurich Municipal, commented:

“We’ve had a particularly wet start to the year, which is only going to exacerbate the pothole problem that is plaguing the nation.

“While the additional funding that government pledged at the end of last year is a step in the right direction, councils need a lot more funding so that they are not just repairing the current cavities in the roads to make them safer for all users, but also investing in the network so it doesn’t deteriorate as much in the first place.”

Ahead of the spending review, Zurich Municipal is calling for:

• Increase local authorities highway maintenance budget to allow them to better plan for, and allocate maintenance work, along the road network
• Give local authorities more flexibility so that they can prioritise repairs within their region and make sure roads are as safe as possible for all road users

Notes to Editors

¹The Asphalt Industry Alliance estimate the cost of the backlog in 2023–24 as over £15.6 billion
² Based on a Freedom of Information request in December 2024. 116 local authorities responded and of these, 68 indicated how many potholes needed repairing at the end of 2024. Some local authorities were unable to provide a figure of outstanding pothole repairs.
³Based on Zurich Municipal claims data for 2024 and 2023
⁴Total cost of claims that Zurich Municipal paid for in 2024 but some of the pothole claims may have been registered in 2023.