Budget and council tax 2018/19
Hampshire County Council’s council tax continues to be one of the lowest of any county council in England
- £1,200.96
- Our 2018/19 Band D council tax
- £23 million
- Government grant cut in 2018/19
Councils across the country continue to face substantial financial pressures. The main Government grant Hampshire County Council receives will be cut by a further £23 million in 2018/19. Resources also need to be found to meet growing demand for social care services for vulnerable children and adults. Residents have told us they want to see services retained such as school crossing patrols, community transport and Household Waste Recycling Centres.
To help provide all of these services, council tax will increase by 5.99% this year. It will still remain one of the lowest of any county council in England. 3% of the increase will be used to help fund pressures in adult social care services. The other 2.99% will help to finance all of the council’s services, enabling us to retain more of the services valued by residents.
As well as helping to fund the provision of services, council tax also helps to resource the provision of infrastructure essential to Hampshire’s prosperity. This includes spending £146 million up to 2020/21 on new and extended school buildings in order to meet the demand for school places. £120 million will be spent on highways maintenance over the next three years, together with £133 million on new transport infrastructure.
You may notice that Hampshire County Council’s total council tax is split into two separate lines on council tax bills. This is because Government legislation requires the adult social care precept (which is the part of council tax used to fund adult social care pressures) to be shown separately. More information about the adult social care precept.
What the budget will be spent on
The services we provide include:
- adult social care
- children’s social care
- concessionary bus travel
- economic development
- libraries
- public health
- road maintenance
- schools
- trading standards
- waste disposal
How the budget is funded
| Item | 2017/18 | 2018/19 |
|---|---|---|
| Gross expenditure | £1,902.8m | £1,976.3m |
| Funded by: | ||
| Departmental income | £273.0m | £267.0m |
| Contribution from reserves | £0.0m | £29.3m |
| Interest receivable | £8.4m | £7.6m |
| Dedicated Schools Grant | £732.1m | £747.3m |
| Other Specific Government grants | £159.9m | £173.3m |
| General Government grants | £111.4m | £92.4m |
| Business rates | £44.9m | £46.2m |
| Surplus on collection funds | £6.3m | £4.7m |
| Council tax requirement | £566.8m | £608.5m |
| Results in: | ||
| Hampshire County Council’s Band D Council Tax | £1,133.10 | £1,200.96 |
About this summary
The information on this webpage is about the Hampshire County Council part of council tax. Your council tax bill will also include amounts for the Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority, the district council and, in many areas, a parish or town council.
Environment Agency levies
Hampshire County Council pays a levy to the Environment Agency to help fund the construction and maintenance of flood and coastal defences.
2018/19 budgets – Southern, Thames and Wessex regional flood and coastal committees
Government information about the adult social care precept
The Government requires all councils with adult social care responsibilities to publish the text below on their council tax information webpage. Please note that Hampshire County Council has not yet made any decision about its council tax rates for the years after 2018/19.
“The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has made an offer to adult social care authorities. (“Adult social care authorities” are local authorities which have functions under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, namely county councils in England, district councils for an area in England for which there is no county council, London borough councils, the Common Council of the City of London and the Council of the Isles of Scilly.)
The offer is the option of an adult social care authority being able to charge an additional “precept” on its council tax for financial years from the financial year beginning in 2016 without holding a referendum, to assist the authority in meeting expenditure on adult social care. Subject to the annual approval of the House of Commons, the Secretary of State intends to offer the option of charging this “precept” at an appropriate level in each financial year up to and including the financial year 2019-20.”
