Budget Consultation 2024/25

Update

Thanks to your feedback the Council has now agreed on a list of savings that means it can set a balanced budget for 2024/25. Many of these follow the One Coventry Plan, which uses the strength of all of our partners. Working together as a city is the only way to make our resources go further. Please find on the right hand side links to the Cabinet Report and an Overview of the Budget and Spending Plans which includes the consultation findings report.

Background

We want to give everyone the opportunity to tell us what you think about our spending proposals for 2024/25.

We create a budget every year and it is our intention to continue to protect frontline services, this is a political priority. Cllr Richard Brown, Cabinet Member for Finance, gives some background to this consultation in the video below.

To hear more information, listen to our podcast

Have your say

We are seeking your views and suggestions, and invite you to complete the survey below. We want to stress that no decisions have been made yet, and we want people to have their say in our consultation.

The deadline for responses is 7 February.

If you need the survey in another format please email budgetsetting@coventry.gov.uk

Be sure to use the Reachdeck toolbar for text-to-speech, reading and translation support by clicking the icon on the bottom right hand side of your screen.

Background

Find out more by reading the Cabinet Report and see the proposals and financial position as well as the Equality Impact Assessment.

How We Fund Local Services

This year (2023/24) we will spend around £812 million on local services. We will receive over £164 million in Council Tax to help fund this. We will fund the balance of £648 million through business rates, grants, fees, charges and other income.

Over time, funding for local government has reduced and we no longer receive a grant to fund services from Government. Alongside this we also have to pay some of the Business Rates income that we collect locally back to the Government. In total, the amount of money available to the Council is not sufficient to keep up with the costs of inflation and rising demand for services such as social care. This means we will face significant and ongoing challenges providing the same level of services, and either need to make further savings or generate additional income to fund the services we deliver.

The proposals set out within this consultation, could collectively form the basis of a balanced budget in 2024/25. This ensures that our income will equal our spend in 2024/25, albeit with financial gaps in future years of approximately £14 million. We expect that our funding streams are unlikely to keep up with the cost of the services that we provide and that we will need to find more savings and generate more income in the future. We will ask you to give your views on savings and income ideas in the survey. Your responses will help in setting budgets for 2024/25 and beyond.

The following diagram shows how much the City Council spends on key services every day.

The proportion of the Council’s net expenditure on adults and children’s services has gone up a lot in the past 10 years. As a result, the Council’s net expenditure is now 79 per cent on adults and children’s services, which leaves 21 per cent of this net expenditure for all other services.

Workshops

We’d love to talk to you about the Council budget and answer any questions you have. We are holding workshops where you can learn more about our budget proposals and tell us what your think. The dates and times are on the right hand side of this page.

If you are a local resident/ member of an organisation please register your interest.

If you work for Coventry City Council please register your interest here to attend a workshop.

Drop in Sessions

If you would like help to fill in a survey or to come and talk to us, we will be at the Customer Services Centre on 9 and 19 January 2024, no need to register just come along. Look at the times on the right hand side of this page.

For residents affected by inflation and other cost of living issues, we have put together webpages that tell you about support available.