Council Tax budgets and spending
Elected councillors agree a budget each year that shows how much money we will need for the services we will be providing, and where the money will come from. Council Tax has to make up the difference between the amount we receive from other sources and the total it costs us to provide our services. This difference is called the Council Tax requirement.
Council Tax bills also include charges from local town and parish councils, Cheshire Constabulary, and Cheshire Fire Authority. Each of these organisations sets their own budget for the services they provide.
Council Tax budget summary 2023-24
For 2023-24, the budgets to be met from Council Tax in the Cheshire East Council area are:
Council Tax budget summary
| Authority | 2023-24 | 2022-23 |
|---|
| |
£m |
£m |
| Cheshire East Council |
271.097 |
254.681 |
| Police and Crime Commissioner for Cheshire |
39.764 |
36.872 |
| Cheshire Fire & Rescue Service |
13.890 |
12.917 |
| Town and parish councils |
10.116 |
9.309 |
We have increased Council Tax by 4.99% for 2023-24.
The 2023-24 increase is the eighth increase since 2010-11. We froze Council Tax levels for 5 years from 2011-12 to 2015-16, with some central government support. During those 5 years, we saved Council Tax payers a total of nearly £50m and continued to provide services that met the needs of local residents.
There are three reasons for this year's increase:
- there is continuing growing demand for social care
- the costs of providing services have risen due to exception inflation levels
- we continue to have extremely low levels of general revenue support grant (£388,000 allocated for 2023-24)
Business growth is helping to bring in more money from Business Rates, and the growth in house building should mean more Council Tax payers and higher Council Tax income. But it will still be a major challenge to raise the amount of money to cover what's needed.
Changes between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 budgets
We need to raise £17.2 million more from Council Tax including town and parish charges in 2023-24 than we did in 2022-23. This is due to exception inflation and higher demand for key services.
Changes between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 budgets
| Income or expenditure category | Change to Council Tax requirement between 2022-23 and 2023-24 |
|---|
| |
£m |
| increased net growth in service demand and inflation pressures |
28.2 |
| increase in Specific Grant |
-2.8 |
| increase in Business Rates |
-6.2 |
| increased town and parish council charges |
0.8 |
| change in central budgets |
-2.8 |
| Total |
17.2 |
How we spend our income
We split our services into service committee areas.
Spending by service committee area 
Breakdown of income and expenditure by service committee area
Breakdown of income and expenditure by service committee area
| Area of spending | 2023-24 gross expenditure (amount of money needed) - A | 2023-24 service specific income (not from Council Tax or Business Rates) - B | 2023-24 net expenditure (amount needed after deducting service-specific income) - C | 2022-23 net expenditure (amount spent after deducting service-specific income) - C |
|---|
| |
£m |
£m |
£m |
£m |
| Schools |
165.459 |
-165.459 |
0.000 |
0.000 |
| Children and Families |
88.774 |
-9.649 |
79.125 |
73.777 |
| Corporate Policy |
114.842 |
-73.854 |
40.988 |
38.322 |
| Economy and Growth |
36.216 |
-11.172 |
25.044 |
23.510 |
| Environment and Communities |
58.959 |
-10.638 |
48.321 |
44.373 |
| Finance Sub (Central budgets, reserves and Capital Financing) |
14.208 |
-1.900 |
12.308 |
15.107 |
| Health and Adults |
201.476 |
-65.144 |
136.332 |
120.839 |
| Highways and Transport |
23.262 |
-12.255 |
11.007 |
11.802 |
| Total - D |
703.196 |
-350.071 |
353.125 |
327.730 |
Notes
A - The gross expenditure columns shows what we plan to spend in 2023-24
B - Service-specific income includes income from:
- grants that can only be used for the particular service
- fees and charges for services
- other external contributions for the particular service
C - The net expenditure figure is the amount left after deducting the sum in the income column. This is the amount of money we need to cover from general income. General income comes from Council Tax, Business Rates and government grants.
D - The totals line shows that after taking into account income we receive for specific spending areas, we still need to raise £353.1 million to cover the costs of services. This money has to come from general income - Council Tax, Business Rates and central government grants.
Service commissioning
Many of our services are now provided through contracts with other organisations rather than directly by Cheshire East Council staff. This is called commissioning. We then pay the other organisation to provide the relevant services. This money comes out of the relevant service portfolio budget.
We have created our own companies to provide some types of services. We've done this because companies can access funds and sources of income that we as a council can't. A share of the profits from these companies comes back to us to help fund services. For more information about these companies, see Best Fit services.
Sources of general income
Sources of general income
| Source of income | Amount 2023-24 | Amount 2022-23 |
|---|
| |
£m |
£m |
| Business Rates retained |
55.277 |
49.086 |
| Revenue support grant (central government) |
0.388 |
0.007 |
| Specific grant (central government) |
26.363 |
23.955 |
| Cheshire East Borough Council Tax |
271.097 |
254.681 |
| Total general income |
353.125 |
327.730 |
Capital spending
Our ongoing programme of capital investment includes investment in assets such as roads, land and buildings, equipment and vehicles.
We often spread the costs and benefits of this investment over a number of years. In 2023-24, we plan to spend £214.7 million on capital investment. This spending will be funded by a combination of government grants, affordable borrowing, developer contributions and proceeds from the sale of assets.
Breakdown of income and expenditure by service committee area for capital spending
Breakdown of income and expenditure by service committee area
| Service committee area | Capital expenditure 2023-24 |
|---|
| |
£m |
| Adults and Health |
0.5 |
| Children and Families |
54.4 |
| Corporate Policy |
12.8 |
| Economy and Growth |
71.0 |
| Environment and Communities |
12.0 |
| Highways and Transport |
63.9 |
| Total |
214.7
|
Detailed budget information
Our budget pages give full details of our budgets. On these budget pages, some areas of spending have the same name as the service portfolio but show a different figure from that given on this page. This is because on the budget pages we break the spending down into a wider number of service areas. To read the full budget breakdown, see Cheshire East budget.
Contact us
Council Tax enquiry form
Call the Council Tax Customer Service Team on 0300 123 5013 during office hours, 8.30am to 5 pm Monday to Friday, if you're unable to use our forms.
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Page last reviewed: 07 March 2023
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