The Local Government Act 1948 (11 & 12 Geo. 6. c. 26) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was passed during the Labour government of Clement Attlee.
This act provided for general unearmarked grants to be provided to local authorities "as nearly as possible on the basis of financial need." It established Exchequer Equalisation Grants (EEG) as the new block grant for local authorities. As noted by Ken Young and Nirmala Rao, these new grants were based on "the ratio between the average rateable value per head in each local authority and the average rateable value per head throughout the country." The purpose of the EEG formula was to ensure that no local authority would fall below a national minimum of financial resources.
Section 132 of the act allowed local authorities to spend up to the product of a 6d rate for the provision of music, drama, entertainment, and other cultural endeavours. According to Janet Minihan,
Section 147(1) of the act repealed 79 enactments, listed in parts I, II, III, IV and V of the second schedule to the act, respectively.
The act has been substantially repealed piecemeal by subsequent legislation. The Exchequer grant provisions in Parts I and II were superseded by the Local Government Act 1958 and repealed by the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1975. The valuation and rating provisions in Parts III and IV were largely repealed by the General Rate Act 1967. The allowances provisions in Part VI were repealed by the Local Government Act 1972 and the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.