Where does the budget come from?

Each year we set a budget for the coming financial year (April to March). The budget sets out how we’ll spend our money to provide a range of services to meet the needs of our residents. This includes schools, social care, planning, public health, bin collections and road maintenance.

We call this the 'revenue budget'. It’s used to pay for the day to day running costs of delivering our services. This includes staffing, maintaining public buildings and general service running costs.

The gross revenue budget available to spend on services for 2025-2026 is £639 million. This is funded from a mixture of:

• government grants
• fees and charges (such as car parking or crematorium fees)
• commercial rents (not housing rents as this is separate)
• business rates and Council Tax.

This is the amount of money available after contributions from our other income have been accounted for. Income such as council house rents, grant income received for specific purposes, client contributions and fees and charges.

Does the 2025-2026 budget balance?

Yes, the budget does balance, but we still need to make difficult choices to keep delivering the services that people need the most.  

We estimate we’ll spend £34 million more on day-to-day running costs next year, and we’ve set aside money to help pay for extra demand and increased costs.  

We’ve bridged a £19 million funding gap through a significant transformation programme, redesigning our ways of working to deliver better services.   

However, there is a great deal of financial uncertainty over the next few years and beyond.

We’re preparing as well as we can for this and the different scenarios we may face. We’ve updated our three year financial plan taking us up to 2026-2027. We must remain vigilant, flexible and be prepared for all eventualities.

Are you reviewing childcare facilities and school meals service?

Yes, we’re currently seeking feedback from potential alternative providers that could offer high-quality childcare at six sites across Barnsley. This could mean a better offer that meets families’ changing needs, such as childcare broader than term time only, access to at least 30 hours of childcare entitlement and access for children aged nine months upwards.  

Alongside this, we also know many schools have already moved away from the council’s school meal service, and we believe there are providers who are better placed to deliver school catering without the need for a council investment.  

Throughout these reviews and beyond, children in our primary schools will continue to get a hot, nutritious meal, and children will still have access to nursery places. We’ll still provide children with the high standard of care that they’ve always received. 

We understand that these reviews may be unsettling for staff in both these services. Jobs will be safeguarded, as existing council staff will transfer to the new provider on their existing terms and conditions. We're regularly talking to our staff, schools, and trade unions, offering advice and support, which will continue throughout the process.    

How will the 2025-2026 budget be spent?

The budget is allocated to help us make Barnsley the place of possibilities. We want it to be a place that fosters and grows ambition across our borough. All decisions on how to spend and allocate the budget are made with our residents in mind. This makes sure the work we do makes a real difference to you and your family.

In 2025-2026, we'll spend around £639 million providing you and your family with a range of services. This includes an extra £35 million we're investing in our day to day services. The budget is split between our key service areas which are vital to you and your family. It’s invested in those areas where it is most needed or will have the biggest impact.

• 20% Adult Social Care - £129 million
• 29% Children’s Services - £186 million
• 7% Core Services - £42 million
• 5% Corporate - £34 million
• 32% Growth and Sustainability - £205 million
• 7% Public Health and Communities - £43 million

We also spend £79 million on our council houses, which is mainly funded from housing rents.

What investments are you making this year?

We've received some one-off government funding, and we're using this to pilot investments in key areas, such as our young people and communities, including: 

• £1.5 million for our children and young people through the Great Childhood Ambition 

• £5 million to pilot free bus fares for under 18s, with £1 million from South Yorkshire's Mayoral Combined Authority, starting from 1 August 2025 

• £3.5 million in our Neighbourhood Services, including pavement sweeping, weed control, and small-scale infrastructure projects. 

We've also listened to your feedback and we’re investing £12 million to continue improving our highways, making Barnsley a great place to live, work, and visit. 

Where does money for the capital programme come from?

Capital funds are separate from our revenue budget and cannot be used to fund running costs. Capital funding can come from a number of sources, including:

• capital receipts from selling off assets, for example, land
• specific grants to pay for specific schemes or initiatives
• borrowing, for example, a loan
• match funding/contribution from external parties
• money set aside from reserves (underspends) from the revenue budget.

Does the Council Tax increase include fire and police services?

No, it doesn’t. The 4.9% increase is just for the part of the Council Tax bill that’s paid to us for the services we deliver. We don’t pay for the police and fire service out of our budget. They set their own Council Tax precept for the services they provide. This precept is paid over to the police and fire authorities respectively.

If you live in an area that has a parish council, you may also have to pay an additional amount. This figure is set by the parish council.

How will my Council Tax be spent?

The general Council Tax contribution helps meet the running costs of all the services we provide in the borough. This includes schools, social care, maintaining roads, waste collection and recycling, libraries and health protection.

The Adult Social Care precept is ring-fenced specifically to support the rising costs of adult social care. This is to support elderly and vulnerable residents.

The Council Tax you pay each year is used to help deliver the services that you need.

Why do I have to pay for services I don’t use?

You may not feel it’s up to you to pay towards adult social care services. But you may also feel the same about other services that you don’t need or use.

Lots of the services we provide are used to benefit everyone. Without them, the borough would grind to a halt. These are services such as bin collections, maintaining roads and public health. Some services are used by fewer residents depending on personal circumstances. Including services such as children’s social care, home support for the elderly and special educational needs.

If you’re raising Council Tax, why can’t you deliver more services instead of asking us to do more for ourselves?

We need £34 million more to provide services, but raising Council Tax only gives us £6 million extra. Even after this increase, we’re still needing to make efficiency savings of £19 million for 2025-2026. This is to help meet the rising cost of the services we deliver to you. Beyond next year, we still need to find at least £15 million to balance our budget.

We’re working tirelessly to make our resources go further. We also want sustainable outcomes so we can be prepared for the further challenges we face. This is not only financially, but also in terms of the growing pressures and demands on our services. We’re trying to do more with less and focus on those areas with the biggest impact in the long run.

My bin hasn't been collected, why should I pay my Council Tax?

Your Council Tax contributes to lots of services, including Adult Social Care, Children’s Social Care, public health, maintaining roads and more. We collect waste for 103,000 properties in Barnsley. We spend £5 million per year on our waste collection services and £1 million is funded by Council Tax, that’s just 19p per household a week. 

How do you work out how much you pay your staff?

Our pay policy sets out the arrangements for salary and related allowances that's paid to employees. This is refreshed at the start of each financial year and will be updated once approved at full council.

It details how salary levels are decided, the method for pay progression and the payment of allowances. Any pay award for local government employees is agreed through the National Joint Council for Local Government Services.

You can also find details of the salaries and job titles of senior employees. This is for those whose salary is more than £50,000.

2024-2025 budget

The budget proposals for 2024-2025 were approved by cabinet members and full council on Thursday 29 February 2024.

You can view the full budget details in our full council 2024-2025 budget papers.

2023-2024 budget

The budget proposals for 2023-2024 were approved by cabinet members and full council on Thursday 23 February 2023.

You can view the full budget details in our full council 2023-2024 budget papers.

2022-2023 budget

The budget proposals for 2022-2023 were approved by cabinet members and full council on Thursday 24 February 2022.

You can view the full budget details in our full council 2022-2023 budget papers.

2021-2022 budget

The budget proposals for 2021-2022 were approved by cabinet members and full council on Thursday 25 February 2021.

You can view the full 2021-2022 budget details in our full council report.

2020-2021 budget

The budget proposals for 2020-2021 were approved by cabinet members and full council on Thursday 27 February 2020.

You can view the full 2020-2021 budget details in our full council report.

2019-2020 budget

The budget proposals for 2019-2020 were approved by our cabinet and full council in February 2019. You can view the full 2019-2020 budget details in the cabinet report.