Money Matters: Have your say on Buckinghamshire Council's spending priorities for 2023 to 2024

Overview

We want to know which services you think we should be prioritising in our budget for next year, and what you think about our outline plans for how we're suggesting next year's budget should be spent.

We are working hard on spending plans for next year. With a really challenging economic climate, with rising energy costs, interest rates and inflation, it’s more essential than ever that you tell us how you want your money to be spent.

The costs involved in providing our services have risen sharply due to higher inflation. This makes setting the budget and balancing the books extremely challenging this year.

You have an important role to play in the budget-setting process as we need to determine how you want your council tax spent.

In considering your response, take time to reflect on the wider needs of the whole of Buckinghamshire in addition to the specific priorities for yourself, your family, your immediate community, your business or your organisation.

How the council is funded

The money we receive from council tax covers 82% of the cost of providing all Buckinghamshire Council’s services – from paying for care packages for adults who need it, to providing emergency accommodation for homeless people and vulnerable children, as well as the essential services everyone relies on like bin collections, road repairs and keeping streets and open spaces clean and safe.

The other 18% of the council's budget is funded by money from business rates, the New Homes Bonus and other grants.

It’s also important to note that the funding for the running of our schools is not set or controlled by the council. This goes directly to schools from government as part of the Dedicated Schools Grant.

How your money is spent

All councils have a legal duty to limit their spending to the income they receive each year. So, our budget must balance.

The vast majority of our budget each year needs to be spent on the services we are required by law to provide, such as social care for adults and children. This is known as statutory spend.

The current spending breakdown for the year 2022/23 is:

• Adult Social Care (including Public Health) - £164,514,000
• Children's Social Care - £74,930,000
• Roads & Transportation - £55,332,000
• Waste & Recycling - £24,278,000
• Education (excluding the Dedicated Schools Grant) - £14,753,000
• ICT (Information Communication Technology) - £13,656,000
• Legal and Democratic Services - £12,158,000
• Business Operations - £11,147,000
• Finance - £8,789,000
• Other corporate services - £7,879,000
• Localities & Partnerships - £7,582,000
• Planning - £6,202,000
• Culture & Leisure - £4,927,000
• Human Resources - £4,681,000
• Regulatory Services - £3,600,000
• Economic Regeneration & Strategic Infrastructure - £3,404,000
• Housing - £3,370,000
• Street Cleaning - £2,587,000
• Environment - £1,844,000

This adds up to a total spend of £425,633,000 for 2022/23.

We are proposing to allocate the 2023/24 budget in a similar way.

How to have your say

You can tell us your views in one of the following ways:

• Complete the online survey using the link at the end of the page
• Complete, and return, a printed version of the survey (PDF 0.27MB)

You can pick up a paper copy of the survey in one of our Council Access Points, including libraries.

If you have any questions about this activity, please email us at consultations@buckinghamshire.gov.uk.

Please tell us your views by midnight on Sunday 20 November 2022.

What happens next

We will consider all the feedback we receive and use the findings to help us develop the draft budget further.

A detailed draft budget will be published in early 2023 for further feedback and scrutiny. It will then be finalised and agreed in February 2023.

Privacy

We will use the information you provide here only for this activity. We will store the information securely in line with data protection laws and will not share or publish any personal details. For more information about data and privacy, please see our Privacy Policy.

If you have questions about data and privacy, please email us on dataprotection@buckinghamshire.gov.uk. Or write to our Data Protection Officer at Buckinghamshire Council, The Gateway, Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury, HP19 8FF.