How the budget is spent
The budget is spent on hundreds of different services for residents and businesses.
Around two-thirds (£253.3m/67%) is spent on Schools/Education and Social Services. The rest is spent on:
- Environment and Regulatory Services
- Democratic Services
- HR
- Digital Services etc.
Education, Leisure and Lifelong Learning
For our Education, Leisure and Lifelong Learning services, this budget provides an investment of £139.6m - an increase of £5.8m (4.4%) compared with 2023-24.
The investment will be used to:
- provide education services to around 22,000 children and young people
- increase school places for children with Additional Learning Needs
- make additional investment into Celtic Leisure Services Ltd, subsidising the costs of operating the indoor leisure facilities operated by the company
There will also be one-off funding of £1.8m from reserves this year to:
- respond to pressures in Home to School Transport
- provide further help to secondary schools to increase attendance and reduce exclusions
Social Services, Housing and Community Safety
For our Social Services, Housing and Community Safety services, the budget provides an investment of £113.7m, an increase of £8.1m (7.7%) compared with 2023-24.
The investment will be used to:
- support around 2400 vulnerable children and their families
- help over 2500 adults who need care and support
- support more than 2500 people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless
- increase the number of placements available for people with complex needs
- maintain a stable workforce in social care
- build capacity in our housing service to deliver an ambitious programme of work to:
- prevent more people from becoming homeless
- reduce the time people need to spend in temporary and emergency accommodation
Environment, Transport, Regulatory services and Regeneration
For our Environment, Transport, Regulatory services and Regeneration work, this budget provides £46.5m, an increase of £0.25m (0.5%) compared with 2023-24.
The investment enables us to:
- continue the Catch Up, Clean Up, Green Up programme to clean up and rejuvenate public areas in local communities, initiated in 2023-24
- deliver the waste management strategy – this does not include a move to three weekly residual waste collections in 2024-25
- create additional capacity to take forward work on decarbonisation with an early focus on the next phases of work. These are:
- to reduce energy consumption
- increase energy efficiency
- move to renewable energy sources
- protect capacity across the regulatory, regeneration and transport divisions. This is to maintain momentum in delivering on infrastructure and promising economic development programmes including the multi-million GCRE, Wildfox, and Celtic Freeport projects
Finance and Corporate Services
For the council’s Finance and Corporate Services, the budget provides £21.4m – a standstill position compared with 2023-24.
The investment will:
- maintain capacity to ensure good governance of the council
- enable the council to take forward the next phases of the Future of Work and Digital, Data and Technology strategies. These will help us develop the capabilities needed to sustain the council into the future
More information
Read the full Budget report.
Read more about our ‘Let’s Keep Talking’ campaign and what people told us.