How extended producer responsibility for packaging works 

From 2025, some organisations and businesses will have to pay a fee for the packaging they supply to or import into the UK market. This is called extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging.  

The money will go to local authorities (LAs), as: 

• waste disposal, waste collection or unitary authorities 

• statutory waste disposal authorities 

It will cover net costs of collecting, managing, recycling and disposing of household packaging waste. 

In the future, LAs will need to sign up to the new local authority payments (LAPs) function of the EPR digital service to receive payments.

Defra and thePackUK (the Scheme Administrator,Administrator) once formally established, will contact LA chief executives from November 2024 to let them know what actions they need to take. 

Payments local authorities will receive 

In the first year (April 2025 to March 2026) LAs will receive a basic payment based on: 

• publicly available and existing data, including WasteDataFlow information and Office of National Statistics (ONS) data  

• data about tonnages, operations and unit costs gathered from a representative sample of LAs across the UK 

From the second year (April 2026 to March 2027) the basic payment and any adjustments will be based on data LAs submit to the Scheme Administrator. PackUK. 

How the basic payment is calculated  

The basic payment uses a model based on:  

• certain LA characteristics, such as rurality and deprivation   

• national policies and circumstances  

• the amount of waste LAs collect and manage  

• the estimated composition of this waste  

Timeline of payments and actions local authorities need to take  

The process for receiving payments and signing up for LAPs willstarted beginin from November 2024.  

November 2024 

In November 2024, Defra willsent send chief executives an email that includesincluded an assessment notice. This will include: included: 

• a cost assessment 

• an estimate of what the LA’s basic payment will be for the first year of the scheme  

They’llThey also receive: received: 

•  guidance about the method used to calculate the payment estimate 

•  a schedule, explaining when they will receive payments 

The assessment notice willincluded include a link to a form LAs can use to submit queries and provide feedback.    

April 2025 2025 to March 2026 

In AprilJune 2025, Defra will send chief executives will receive another assessment notice which may include revisions based on feedback and queries from from LAs. 

April

In 2025Year to1 March(April 2026 

Between April 2025 andto March 2026, 2026), LAs will will receive 3 grant determination letters that will tell them: 

• how much they’ll be paid  

• when they’ll receive payments.  

These amounts may be different to the assessment notices chief executives receive in November 2024 and AprilJune 2025. 2025.  

The first payment will be made between October and December 2025 and will cover the first 2 quarters of the financial year. The second and third payments will be made between January and March 2026 and will cover the third and fourth quarter of the financial year.  

LAs will receive remittance advice after each payment. 

April 2026 onwards 

LAs will receive 4 separate quarterly payments each year from April 2026.  

After the local authority payments service opens 

After LAPs opens, Defra will send chief executives an email request to sign up for the service. They’ll need to give contact details of who will sign up for the service on behalf of the LA – this will usually be the heads of finance and waste management. 

LAs will be able to use the service to  

• view the detailed breakdown of their payment estimate 

• confirm their payment details 

• receive updates and notifications  

• view assessment notices  

• submit data  

Data local authorities need to submit 

If LAs submit waste data through existing services, such as the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) portal and WasteDataFlow, they must continue to do so. Defra will contact LAs directly if they need to submit further data before LAPs opens.  

Data submissions in future years  

Details of the data LAs will be able to submit in future years have not been finalised.  

Defra is analysing data submitted from representative LAs to confirm what data will be needed for all LAs to collect and report in future years.   

LAs will be updated as soon as this is finalised. There’ll be a window for LAs to collect the data before the submission deadline. The collection windows and submission deadline will be communicated in advance.  

Although LAs are not required to submit data, doing so will help improve the overall accuracy of the modelled payment calculations. This will help ensure LAs receive more accurate payments.  

The costs of collecting additional data requested by thePackUK Scheme Administrator will be covered by EPR. 

Contact Defra  

LAs can contact Defra if they have questions about the scheme.  

Email: EPRCustomerService@defra.gov.uk