Your Council Tax 2024-25
About the County Council
Staffordshire County Council is the top-tier local authority in Staffordshire, in the centre of England. It covers the areas of East Staffordshire, South Staffordshire, Tamworth, Cannock Chase, Lichfield, Stafford, Newcastle-under-Lyme, and the Staffordshire Moorlands, but excludes the city of Stoke-on-Trent.
Staffordshire is a predominantly rural county, but has its fair share of successful market towns and flourishing businesses. It has a growing population of around 900,000 residents.
The county council is made up of 62 councillors, elected every four years.
What we do
The county council is responsible for:
- Social Care
- Public Health
- Education and Early Years
- Highways and Transport
- Household Waste Recycling (tips)
- Economic growth in the county
Housing, waste collection, street cleaning, environmental health, planning and leisure are the responsibility of our 8 district and borough councils.
Dear resident
Your council tax helps to fund vital work across Staffordshire that makes a difference in your life and the lives of the 860,000 people we serve.
In the year ahead, we will continue to fix and upgrade more roads. We will invest in our economy, attract more big business to the county, and help to create more good jobs in our communities. We will invest in new and existing schools, in skills and in fibre broadband to create a wealth of opportunities for our residents.
The financial pressures that councils are facing across the country have been well documented. Here in Staffordshire, we remain a financially stable, well-run county council.
This is down to careful management of your money, which means we can deliver a balanced budget and continue to invest in Staffordshire’s future. We spend every pound as wisely as we can, supporting the economy and investing in our communities so that Staffordshire remains a great place to live, work and raise a family.
Our pledge to Staffordshires people is that we will live within our means and deliver value for money. We will spend around two-thirds of our budget in 2024-25 on adult social care and supporting vulnerable children and young people. Year on year our costs continue to rise due to a mix of inflation, increasing energy bills and growing demand for our support, especially as our population ages. This means that from April we will be increasing council tax by 4.99 per cent, the equivalent of £1.41 per week for a Band D property.
Even with this rise, Staffordshire’s council tax remains one of the lowest of any county in England, and will allow us to invest in our communities, on the things that matter most to our residents, and continue helping those who need it the most.
Alan White
Leader of Staffordshire County Council
Where our money comes from
Money for services £236.2m
This funding is available for day-to-day services.
Your council tax: £437.5m
Business rates: £122.8m
Government grants: £12.4m
Other Income: £76.9m
Money for schools £306m
Dedicated schools grant: £306m
Total: £1,191.8m
Last year's figures
| Income | 2023/24 | 2023/24 |
|---|
| Your Council Tax |
£437.5 m |
36.68% |
| Money for services |
£236.2 m |
19.80% |
| Money for schools |
£306.0 m |
25.66% |
| Business Rates Retention Income |
£122.8 m |
10.30% |
| Government grants |
£12.4 m |
1.04% |
| Other income |
£76.9 m |
6.52% |
| Total |
£1,191.8 m |
100% |
Making the most of your money
Out of every pound of our funds we will spend...
43p Adult social care
25p Children's services
7p Other education services
6p Highways**
4p Environmental and regulatory services
5p Other services
3p Capital Financing
3p Transport
2p Culture and community
2p Contingency
** Highways council tax figure. More is spent on highways through our capital programme
Last year's spend
| | 2023/24 p in £ |
|---|
| Children's services |
0.22 |
| Other education services |
0.06 |
| Adult social care |
0.35 |
| Environmental and regulatory services |
0.04 |
| Highways |
0.06 |
| Transportation |
0.03 |
| Planning services |
0.01 |
| Cultural and related services |
0.02 |
| Other services |
0.13 |
| Capital Financing |
0.04 |
| Care and Communities |
0.02 |
| Contingency |
0.02 |
| Total |
1.00 |
Staffordshire County Council’s Aims
Vision:
An innovative, ambitious and sustainable county, where everyone has the opportunity to prosper, be healthy and happy.
Outcomes:
Everyone in Staffordshire will:
- Have access to more good jobs and share the benefits of economic growth
- Live in thriving and sustainable communities
- Be healthier and independent for longer
Priorities:
- Support Staffordshire’s economy to grow, generating more and better-paid jobs
- Encourage good health and wellbeing, resilience and independence
- Tackle climate change, enhance our environment, and make Staffordshire more sustainable
- Offer every Staffordshire child and young person the best start in life, and the chance to achieve their potential
- Fix more roads, and improve transport and digital connections
How we work:
- Encourage our communities to help themselves and each other
- Lead our workforce to be ambitious, courageous and empowered
- Use digital technology and data to connect, inform and support the people of Staffordshire
- Engage and listen to our communities, partners and business, working together to improve our county
Pledge:
Live within our means and deliver value for money
Energy and Climate Change
We are reducing our energy use and switching to green energy at every opportunity. By 2050 we aim to be a net zero organisation, meaning that we take as much carbon out of the atmosphere through things like tree planting, as we put in through our transport or buildings.
We are switching the bulbs in our street lights and buildings to LED, and running many of our gritters on vegetable oil. We are upgrading schools and buildings to be more energy efficient.
There are small things we can all do to reduce carbon emissions, and save money too:
Switch to LED bulbs
LEDs use less electricity, reducing your carbon footprint. Lighting makes up 11% of the average home electricity use, so making the switch will help you save too.
Get into composting
One of the best ways to look after the environment, reduce emissions and save money on green waste collection. You can buy a discounted compost bin for £10 on the Get composting website by inputting your postcode.
Turn heating down by 1 degree
This small change will reduce carbon emissions and be good for your wallet too. You can also cut your electricity bills by turning appliances off rather than leaving them on standby.
Visit your Household Waste Recycling Centre
We recycle more than 47,000 tonnes of waste each year in Staffordshire. But lots of items that could be recycled still end up in our general waste. Learn more about what you can recycle on our waste and recycling pages, or visit your local Household Waste Recycling Centre. Our staff are always on hand to help
More information on energy saving can be found on our Here to Help pages.
Areas of Investment
We are continuing to build new schools to accommodate new housing developments. We will also continue our school extension and upgrade programme, to ensure the county’s children can learn in fit for-purpose schools that are as energy efficient as possible.
Since 2014, our Economic Growth Programme has delivered more than 11,500 jobs and enabled more than 5,000 houses to be built.
Work continues on the Chatterley Valley West site near Kidsgrove, which will eventually create up to 1,700 jobs, and we are also delivering the new A34 roundabout access near Stafford for the Pets at Home national distribution centre, which will lead to 800 jobs.
We will continue to invest in where we live and take pride in our place, which includes spending money on highways, the countryside and public health. This will help drive footfall to our high streets and green spaces, and promote healthier, happier lives for our residents.
A large proportion of our budget will continue to be spent on adult social care, and we will continue to support the most vulnerable in our communities. We currently support around 7,200 people to remain independent in their homes, and care home placements for around 3,400 people.
We have already reduced our carbon emissions by half since declaring a climate emergency in 2019. Although we are only responsible for around 2% of the carbon emissions in Staffordshire, we want to be setting an example to the rest of the county. We are now moving forward and considering the big changes we can make to reduce or offset our output even further.
Stay connected
We will continue to listen and work with you to make the best use of our resources. If you have suggestions about how we might do things differently, please let us know:
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