How we are funded
Business rates contribute to 15.72% of our overall funding. The rest comes from Council Tax, government grants and other income such as car parking, licensing and planning permission, for example.
We approved our budget for 2026-2027 on 4th March 2026.
The amount that must be raised from local taxation, including redistributed and retained business rates, is £817.575 million.
Gross budget
The gross budget is the total amount we plan to spend, before any income is taken into account.
For 2026-27, this is £1.8bn. This includes:
How the Council is Funded
£295.086m Localised Business Rates
£277.030m Council Tax Income
£245.458m General Government Grants
£817.575m Net Budget
(this includes other government grants which are service-specific)
(this includes other government grants which are service-specific)
Since 2010 we have made £551 million in budget savings due to reduced government funding and increased service pressures.