Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023

Overview of the Act

Reproduced verbatim from the Explanatory Notes published with the Act on legislation.gov.uk (Crown Copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0). Explanatory Notes are prepared by the responsible government department and are not part of the Act.

The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 supports the Government’s manifesto commitment to level up the United Kingdom. The Government’s objective is to reduce geographical disparities between different parts of the United Kingdom by spreading opportunity more equally.

To this end, on 2 February 2022, the Government published the Levelling Up the United Kingdom White Paper 1 . This highlighted disparities between regions and within regions of the UK across economic, social and environmental measures, including that: People living in the most deprived communities in England live up to 18 years less of their lives in good general health than the least deprived. Nearly a quarter of all neighbourhood crime in 2018-19 was concentrated in just 5% of local areas. London’s transport and housing infrastructure, despite higher investment, is under the greatest strain and it has worse outcomes in subjective measures of social capital than many other parts of the county.

The White Paper outlined the causes of geographic disparities across the United Kingdom, before proposing a roadmap to reduce them by: Boosting productivity, pay, jobs and living standards by growing the private sector, especially in those places where they are lagging; Spreading opportunities and public services, especially in those places where they are weakest; Restoring a sense of community, local pride and belonging, especially in those places where they have been lost; and Empowering local leaders and communities, especially in those places lacking local agency.