The Mayor of London’s Budget for 2026-27 sets out how he will fund his plans to continue building a fairer, safer, greener and more prosperous London for everyone. It ensures investment to tackle crime, build more affordable homes, reduce street homelessness, improve London’s transport network, provide free school meals to all state primary school children, and keep London as a world-leader in tackling air pollution and the climate crisis. The thread that runs throughout the budget is the Mayor’s desire to provide a helping hand to Londoners to ensure everyone has the chance to reach their potential.

In particular, the Mayor’s budget for 2026-27 prioritises resources to tackle crime and the causes of crime, with a record-breaking £1.26bn investment from City Hall in policing and crime prevention measures.

• Record investment to tackle crime

  The Mayor’s top priority is keeping Londoners safe and investment from City Hall has helped to deliver significant progress in reducing key crimes across London over recent years. However, there is still much more to do. That’s why the Mayor is investing a record-breaking £1.26bn from City Hall in policing and crime prevention measures in his 2026-27 budget. This is nearly £100m more than last year’s budget. The funding includes: £4.5m to continue to crack down on and dismantle phone theft gangs on the streets of the capital; a new £2.4m package of support for victims and survivors of Child Sexual Exploitation; an additional £50m to invest in further support for young people, which will help to keep vulnerable young Londoners away from gangs and crime; and an additional £29m to continue tackling violence against women and girls in London.

• Improving London’s transport network

  The Mayor is focused on increasing and improving transport services to make London’s transport network better, greener, more accessible and as affordable as possible. The Mayor’s budget for 2026-27 includes investment that will help to: maintain existing concessionary travel and assisted door-to-door transport schemes; roll out new trains on the Piccadilly line; continue to improve accessibility across TfL’s network, increasing the availability of step-free access and toilets; improve the bus network; move forward with plans to deliver key transport projects, including the DLR extension to Thamesmead; and deliver schemes designed to make walking, cycling and public transport safer, cleaner and more appealing.

• Supporting Londoners through the cost-of-living crisis

  The Mayor has responded to the cost-of-living challenges facing families in London by providing funding to continue his universal free school meals programme for London’s state primary school children. By July 2026, it is estimated that this programme will have saved London families up to £1,500 per child since its introduction in September 2023.

• Investing in social and affordable homes

  Before the pandemic, the Mayor completed more homes in London than at any time since the 1930s and he has taken council housebuilding to its highest level since the 1970s. But there is still a long way to go to fix the housing crisis, with housebuilding currently facing an extremely challenging time in the capital. This is due to a combination of the impact of Brexit, the pandemic, high interest rates and delays caused by the Building Safety Regulator. The Mayor will continue to do everything he can, using his budget for 2026-27 to build more of the safe, decent and affordable homes Londoners need.

• Tackling rough sleeping

  The Mayor has made addressing London’s rough sleeping crisis a top priority. Since 2016, he has increased City Hall’s rough sleeping budget more than fivefold and helped more than 20,000 people off London’s streets. The Mayor’s budget for 2026-27 includes an additional £8m to invest in further action to tackle rough sleeping in the capital.

• Supporting Londoners through the AI revolution

  The Mayor’s budget for 2026-27 includes a new £20m pot of funding to take forward recommendations from his Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Future of Work Taskforce to embed AI skills in our workforce and equip Londoners with the tools they will need to succeed in a fast-changing environment.

  The Mayor’s budget for 2026-27 will also invest in: supporting Londoners to secure better paid jobs; tackling inequality; supporting renters; helping businesses, both large and small; and keeping London as a world-leader in reducing air pollution, cleaning up our rivers and tackling the climate crisis. 

The following tables compare the GLA Group’s planned spending for 2026-27 with last year and sets out why it has changed.

The GLA’s planned gross expenditure is higher this year. This reflects the additional resources the Mayor is investing in policing, the London Fire Brigade and transport services. Overall, the council tax requirement has also increased for this reason. There has been a 1.2 per cent increase in London’s residential property taxbase.

Find out more about our budget