A technical set of regulations pushed through Whitehall this week could have a very real effect on how devolved regions fund themselves. The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 (Consequential Amendments) (Precepts) (England) Regulations 2026 were made on 22 October, laid before Parliament on 23 October and will come into force on 13 November 2026. For northern town halls and other mayor-led regions, the key point is simple enough. The law no longer ties precepts only to mayoral functions. Instead, it shifts the wording to cover the functions of the authority as a whole.

As legislation.gov.uk sets out, the main changes are made to the Combined Authorities (Finance) Order 2017. Across the rules on precepts, budgets and related calculations, references to the mayor’s general functions or mayoral functions are replaced with the broader phrase ‘functions of the authority’. That may look like little more than legal housekeeping, but it is more than that. It changes the basis on which mayoral combined authorities and mayoral combined county authorities can frame part of their funding arrangements, bringing the finance rules into line with the wider devolution law passed earlier this year.

In plain English, a precept is the charge gathered through local council tax bills to help fund a public body. The explanatory note published with the regulations says section 12 of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 removed the old restriction that precepts could be issued only for mayoral functions. These new regulations do the follow-up work. They amend the older secondary legislation so the finance machinery now matches that broader legal position. For authorities with responsibilities reaching well beyond the mayor’s office, that is not a minor wording tweak; it is a clearer fit with the way devolved government now operates.

There is one area-specific amendment as well. Regulation 3 removes paragraph (6) from article 6 of the West of England Combined Authority Order 2017, taking away a separate restriction on that authority’s issuing of a precept. The measure may name the West of England directly, but the wider significance stretches far beyond that patch. Across England, devolution has steadily handed more practical duties to regional authorities, and the funding rules are now being adjusted to reflect that fact.

For places such as Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Tees Valley and the North East, the relevance is practical rather than theatrical. Combined authorities are expected to take decisions on transport, regeneration, skills, housing and long-term growth, and the legal wording around how they raise money needs to match that wider brief. That does not automatically mean higher bills. The explanatory note says no full impact assessment was produced for this instrument because no significant impact is foreseen, with the wider assessment carried out for the 2026 Act itself. Even so, broader financial flexibility should always bring sharper local scrutiny with it.

The regulations were signed on behalf of the Secretary of State by Jim McMahon, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, on 22 October 2026. In legal terms the instrument extends to England and Wales, although the subject it deals with is English local government finance. That legal reach can sound confusing, but the policy point is straightforward enough. This is about how England’s devolved authorities set and justify part of their funding, and about moving the emphasis away from the mayor alone towards the authority in the round.

For Northern Ledger readers, this is exactly the sort of quiet legislative change worth watching. Regional leaders have spent years arguing that power should not sit only in Westminster. If ministers are serious about that promise, the money rules have to keep pace with the powers being handed down. So while this instrument arrives dressed up as a consequential amendment, it is not meaningless tidying. From 13 November, the financial language of English devolution will be a little broader, and when the next budget papers land in regional town halls, that shift will already be in force.