What your council tax pays for
Find out what services your council tax is being spent on.
Council tax is a property-based tax and the way that residents contribute to the cost of local services
This money, together with government grants and business rates, is used to pay for vital local services like schools, rubbish and recycling collections and libraries, as well as services provided by other London-wide organisations like the Greater London Authority (GLA) for police, fire brigade and transport.
Council tax is not a separate part of our budget - like all our funding it goes towards paying for key services.
Council tax accounts for around 13 per cent of council funding. The rest comes from government grants and services that we charge for. Find out how we work out your bill.
Council tax spending 2023-24
This table shows how your council tax was spent in 2023-24.
| Services | Spending | Income | Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult Social Services | £143.9m | £91.7m | £52.2m |
| Chief Executive | £2.7m | £1.4m | £1.3m |
| Community Wealth Building | £42.5m | £21.2m | £21.3m |
| Children's Services | £325.1m | £237.5 | £87.6m |
| Environment | £95.8m | £95.3m | £0.5m |
| Fairer Together | £14.8m | £6.2m | £8.6m |
| Homes and Neighbourhoods (including Housing Revenue Account) | £262.3m | £254.4m | £7.9m |
| Public Health | £30.4m | £30.4m | £0 |
| Resources Directorate and central costs and income | £289.7m | £366.1m | -£76.4m |
| Contingency allocation | £10m | £0 | £10m |
| Total | £1,217.2m | £1,104.2m | £113m |
Total amount needed for council budget and for the Greater London Authority (GLA)
This table shows the money we need for the council budget, how much of it we get from central government, and how much we need to raise from council tax for council spending. It also shows the money we need to give to the GLA.
It then divides these amounts by the equivalent number of Band D properties in the borough (81,882.20) to work out the Band D council tax charge and GLA contribution. The council tax charge and GLA contribution in other bands are worked out as a percentage of this Band D rate.
| Type of contribution | Amount | per Band D property |
|---|---|---|
| Amount we need to raise from council tax for the council budget (excluding Lloyd Square) |
£113m | £1,380.25 |
| Amount we need to collect alongside council tax and give to the GLA | £35.5m | £434.14 |
| Total amount we need to raise for the council and for the GLA | £148.6m | £1,814.39 |
This table explains the increase of £7.6m in the council tax requirement between 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Council tax requirement 2022-23: £105.4m
- Inflation demographic and other growth: £41.9m
- Government funding: -£13.7m
- Savings: -£11m
- Retained business rates income: -£9.6m
Council tax requirement 2023-24 = £113m
Council tax spending 2022-23
This table shows how your council tax was spent in 2022-23.
| Services | Spending | Income | Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult Social Services | £133.6m | £76.9m | £56.7m |
| Chief Executive | £2.7m | £1.4m | £1.3m |
| Community Wealth Building | £37.6m | £21m | £16.6m |
| Children's Services | £321.2m | £236.3 | £84.9m |
| Environment | £89.6m | £84.2m | £5.4m |
| Fairer Together | £14.2m | £7.1m | £7.1m |
| Homes and Neighbourhoods (including Housing Revenue Account) | £240.2m | £233.8m | £6.4m |
| Public Health | £32.1m | £32.1m | £0 |
| Resources Directorate and central costs and income | £194.8m | £272.8m | -£78m |
| Contingency allocation | £5m | 0 | £5m |
| Total | £1,071m | £965.6m | £105m |
What else your council tax funds
Find out more about other organisations and projects that your council tax funds on the GLA website.