Budget 2025/26 Consultation
Introduction
Every year, the council must agree a legal and balanced budget that sets out how much we intend to spend in the coming year and how we propose to raise the money needed to pay for these spending plans.
This consultation seeks your views on the level of Council Tax and Social Care Precept for the coming year (2025/26). These are two of the ways we can fund the services the council provides. This year, Bristol continues to face an intense funding crisis, with a budget gap projected at £51.6 million for 2025/26. Bristol’s growing and aging population means more people need our help and the costs of providing services has risen again due to high inflation and interest rates. At the same time, funding for council services from central government has been falling for 14 years. This is the difficult picture seen in councils across the country.
The proposals in this consultation for Council Tax and Social Care Precept will not be enough on their own to be able to set a balanced budget, so we are working hard to identify other ways we can do this. These include other ways we might raise income and proposals to reduce costs - by improving efficiency wherever possible, or in some cases reducing or stopping some services. We will consult you in the coming months on any new proposals, where consultation is required.
We know we are going to have to make some hard choices, which might include raising Council Tax by more than in previous years. We know this will be difficult for some of our residents, and we are committed to continuing to support those in financial hardship through the Council Tax Reduction Scheme in 2025/26. However, it is far better that the council and city of Bristol make these choices about how we fund local services for the long term, which are focused on preventative measures and involve residents in helping reach these hard choices.
In this consultation, we explain our proposals for Council Tax and Social Care Precept. Please complete the survey to help us understand your opinions on these proposals, and what they would mean for you so that we can take your views and needs into account.
Our options for balancing the budget
Council Tax and Social Care Precept
We are consulting you on options for the level of Council Tax and Social Care Precept for next year (2025/26) that we need to set to help balance the Revenue Budget. The Social Care Precept is an additional charge that councils, including Bristol, may be permitted to add on top of the Council Tax increase to help pay for social care. The government decides each year how much, if any, Social Care Precept councils can levy.
Increasing Council Tax and Social Care Precept would be an important part of how we can balance the budget. However, we will also need to consider other ways to save money or increase income wherever we can. This includes considering how we organise ourselves, conduct our business and raise income; reviewing the council estate to ensure we have the right buildings in the right place to deliver and achieve our goals; accelerating our drive to use digital technology so we are more cost-effective and flexible in everything we do; and continuing to make our case for fair funding from the government.
We have referred to a budget gap of £51.6 million. This is the remaining gap if we raise Council Tax by 3 per cent and Social Care Precept at 2 per cent. If we don’t make these increases, then the funding gap for our services will be greater than the £51.6 million discussed throughout this consultation, and further reductions and savings proposals will be needed to set a balanced budget.
We have also included options for a Council Tax increase of more than 3 per cent and Social Care Precept at more than 2 per cent in case the government permits this. These options would reduce the current budget gap of £51.6 million.
The final decision on the levels of Council Tax and Social Care Precept for 2025/26 will be decided by Full Council in February 2025 and will take into account the outcome of this consultation.
Reducing costs and increasing income
In the coming year we will also be developing and delivering proposals to reduce costs and generate more income, which will help us set a balanced and legal budget. We will undertake further public consultation as needed on the specific details of these proposals, and you will have the opportunity to provide your feedback.
The outcome of any consultation will be taken into account when decisions are being made about any proposals.
Have your say
The consultation is open from Thursday 7 November and will close at midnight on Thursday 19 December.
Please take part in our survey and submit by Thursday 19 December 2024 to make sure your views are considered.
The survey asks for your views on different levels of Council Tax and Social Care Precept, and explains how much each option would add to your Council Tax bill, and how much money it would raise each year for council services. If you would like to read more about how our budget is funded, how the money is spent, the pressures on the council budget, and our equality considerations before completing the survey, you can follow the links below:
- Read about how our budget is funded and the money is spent
- Read about the pressures on the budget
- Read about our equality considerations
Alternative formats
If you prefer, you can complete an online Easy Read version of the survey.
Easy Read is a way of showing information that makes it easier to read. Text is in short sentences, images are chosen to represent each sentence and language is simplified where possible. It is used to help people with a learning disability, and can be useful for people who speak English as a second language, people who find it hard to read and write, and people who have memory problems.
If you need this consultation survey as a paper version, Braille, large print, British Sign Language, or in another language, or other alternative format, you can request this by emailing the Consultation and Engagement Team at consultation@bristol.gov.uk or by calling 0117 922 2848.
At the end of this survey, you can sign up to receive fortnightly email updates about council consultations and engagement.
What happens next?
All responses to this consultation will be analysed and the feedback will help us develop final proposals for the level of Council Tax and Social Care Precept.
The council’s Strategy and Resources Policy Committee will consider these proposals on 20 January 2025 and agree a recommended budget for all councillors to consider.
The final decisions about the 2024/25 budget will be taken by Full Council at its budget setting meeting on 25 February 2025. Both Strategy and Resources Committee and Full Council will take responses to the consultation into consideration when making their decisions.
