Council tax: How your money is spent in Swindon

Residents will be asked to pay between £1366, the annual charge for a Band A property and £4532, the highest charge for a Band H property.

While the amounts paid by different bands of household will differ, the proportions of where the money goes will be the same for every council taxpayer.

How is the council tax bill for Swindon payers broken down?

Although the bills are sent out by, and the money is paid to, Swindon Borough Council, the bill is actually made up of at least three elements and in Swindon four, except for those people living in the parish of Inglesham, where there is no council, and therefore no precept.

The largest amount is levied by Swindon Borough Council – but Wiltshire Police, the Dorset & Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service and 20 parish councils in the borough add their levy – known as precepts - to the total.

Of the eight property bands Band D is known as the reference band and is often seen as the amount the ‘average’ taxpayer will be asked for.

In Swindon, in 2024-25 this will vary because different parish councils charge different amounts –  if we take the average parish precept and £148.54, then the entire bill for Band D payers will be £2,198.04.

By far the largest amount £1693.28 is taken by the borough council itself. That figure represents 77 per cent of the total.

Next in size comes the Wiltshire Police precent at £269.27 per cent – 12 per cent of the whole figure.

The average parish council precept of £148.54 is next at seven per cent.

Parish councils’ duties are wide-ranging and varied: some run libraries to supplement the five managed by the borough council, and some parish councils have responsibilities for parks and gardens of playgrounds. Others maintain cemeteries and other public spaces and run community centres.

The smallest precept of the four is that of the fire and rescue service at £86.5, just four per cent of the total.

What does Swindon Borough Council spend its share on?

And the breakdown of the Swindon Borough Council precept is just as unequal when broken down.

Of the council’s £1693 per Band D household nearly 50 per cent £803.10 is spent on adults’ services, including social care, housing and public health.

Repairs to council houses can only come from the rent actually paid by tenants, so housing gets a relatively low share of this £803, as does public health. By far the most is spent on adults’ services such as care homes, or funding carers to visit elderly and other vulnerable adults in their own homes or making adjustments to people’s houses to help them live independently.

After that at £654.72 comes children’s services: this includes funding social workers to work with families and young people and paying foster carers or children’s homes to look after youngsters in the council’s care.

The figures mean that 86 per cent of the money raised by the council in council tax goes on adults, housing and public health and children’s services, with all of its other functions being funded from the rest.

Collecting the bins – almost the iconic function of local authorities, is the next largest sector, with waste and recycling getting £164.08 – 9.6 per cent of the total.

Highways and transport receives £33.72 from the ‘average’ council taxpayer.

Highways and Transport gets just two per cent of the budget with £33.72 from the average council tax bill going to that department.

Other services, such as libraries, parks and gardens, the art gallery and museum, and the council’s support services receive £37.66 from the average council tax paper - just over 2.2 per cent of the total.