How the council spends your money

The council spends almost £900 million each year on essential services, these include:

• 83 schools 
• 477 kilometres of roads and pavements
• 100 parks and open spaces
• 12 libraries
• four sports centres
• rubbish collection from 107,000 households
• recycling of 28,000 tonnes of waste
• temporary accommodation for 4,000 families
• 700,000 hours of home care for older people
• care for people with disabilities and mental health problems.

Only £93 million of the total £900 million that the council spends on services is raised through council tax collections. The majority of the funding is raised through government grants which include:

• a general grant of £151 million
• £223 million for housing and council tax benefit
• £230 million for schools, a proportion of the £67 million that is spent on Brent's 9,600 council-owned homes and other government grants.

The remaining funds are raised through charges that are paid directly by service users. These include charges for sports facilities, parking, home help and meals on wheels.

Brent's council tax is the 4th lowest of the 20 outer London boroughs. The annual charge for a Band D property in 2008/09 is £1,342.93 (£1033.11 of which funds Brent Council services and £309.82 goes towards Greater London Authority services). Further information concerning the council's spending can be found in the Brent Council spending leaflet (.pdf, 686Kb) which is distributed with the annual council tax notification. This provides information for council tax and business rate payers on:

• the council's planned spending for the year ahead
• the Greater London Authority's spending
• council tax levels in Brent
• council tax exemptions.

For more information on council tax, benefits, payment and any further queries please visit the council tax and business rates section of the website.

The council's budget book provides details of the council's spending plans for each service for the upcoming year. The council's annual review, How the council spends your money (.pdf, 2091Kb), details the division of council funds between each of our services.

The council's annual accounts (.pdf, 1431Kb) provide detailed information on spending over the past year. Regular updates on financial issues affecting the council can be found in The Brent Magazine. Please see the related links above for more information.

Councillors regularly receive information on the council's spending plans and patterns. This information allows them to make critical decisions on how money is to be spent in the future and also enables them to ensure that all money is used effectively. The details of this are available on the committee reports pages.

These include:

• the annual budget report which is considered by the whole council in March of each year. This report aides councillors in deciding how to allocate the resources available to the council, and also in agreeing the level of council tax to be set. The report also sets out the council's strategy for managing the council's finances over the medium to long term.
• the performance and finance review provides councillors with quarterly information on spending, activity, and performance. Reports go to the council's Executive in September, December, March and July.
• the medium term financial strategy (.pdf, 31Kb) which sets out the financial prospects of the council over the next three years and highlights the measures that the council will need to take to ensure that spending can be contained within resources.
• the efficiency strategy (.pdf, 44Kb) which sets out the council's approach to ensuring that maximum value for money is gained from council tax funded expenditure.
• the capital strategy which sets out the council's approach to ensuring continued and effective investment in the council's assets, such as roads, school buildings, libraries, and the council housing stock.

If you want more information on the council's finances please email counciltax@brent.gov.uk or customer.services@brent.gov.uk