Budget and council tax 2023/24
Hampshire County Council’s council tax is one of the lowest of any county council in England
- £1,460.25
- Our 2023/24 Band D council tax
- £2.6 billion
- The Council’s total budget for 2023/24
Hampshire County Council’s council tax will increase this year by 4.99%, which is significantly less than inflation. It balances the need to help households with cost of living pressures whilst raising sufficient resources to fund vital services, especially care services for the most vulnerable. The amount of council tax we charge per band will still remain one of the lowest of any county council in England.
A large proportion of the Council’s budget is spent on providing social care, for both older and younger adults as well as children. In common with councils across the country, we continue to see many financial pressures on social care services, including growing demand and price increases by care providers. Two fifths of the council tax increase will consequently be dedicated to helping meet pressures in adult social care.
The Council provides many other services, some of which are listed in the box alongside. The cost of running these has also been affected by the current high levels of inflation, ranging from the energy bill for libraries to steep increases in the cost of asphalt used to maintain roads. The remainder of the council tax increase will help to meet some of these costs and enable us to continue to provide high quality services.
In addition to running day to day services the Council is responsible for providing essential infrastructure. A continued requirement for more school places means that £175 million is budgeted to be spent over the next three years on new and extended school buildings. In addition to this, £100 million is planned to be spent over the same period on maintaining existing school buildings in good condition. The Council also looks after highways. £142 million is scheduled to be spent over three years on their structural maintenance, together with £103m on transport improvement projects such as bypasses and also walking and cycling schemes. Flood and coastal defence schemes remain another priority, with the total programme of work on these currently valued at £24.6 million.
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 and how council tax is calculated.
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
Council tax amounts for property bands
How the budget is funded
| Item | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
|---|---|---|
| Gross expenditure | £2,391.4m | £2,643.3m |
| Funded by: | ||
| Departmental income | £319m | £356.8m |
| Contribution from reserves | £0.0m | £28.6m |
| Interest receivable | £13.9m | £16.4m |
| Dedicated Schools Grant | £916m | £966.8m |
| Other Specific Government grants | £291.3m | £364m |
| General Government grants | £69.6m | £76.1m |
| Business rates | £47.8m | £47.8m |
| Surplus / deficit on collection funds | -£4.3m | £5m |
| Council tax requirement | £738.1m | £781.8m |
| Results in: | ||
| Hampshire County Council’s Band D Council Tax | £1,390.86 | £1,460.25 |
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 Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police and Crime Commissioner, Hampshire and Isle of Wight 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.
2023/24 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.
“The Secretary of State 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 was the option of an adult social care authority being able to charge an additional “precept” on its council tax without holding a referendum, to assist the authority in meeting its expenditure on adult social care from the financial year 2016-17. It was originally made in respect of the financial years up to and including 2019-20. If the Secretary of State chooses to renew this offer in respect of a particular financial year, this is subject to the approval of the House of Commons.”