Contents

Your Council Tax

Council staff deliver vital services to more than 250,000 residents who live in the Borough. These include the social care services that account for the majority of our spending.

In the past year, for example, we have reduced fly-tipping by a third, repaired more than 1,700 potholes, introduced a new bin collection look-up tool online, collected 99.9% of bins correctly out of a million bins per month, set up 100 new electric charge points in residential streets across the borough, sent more than 50% of household waste for recycling, invested £1 million in supporting foster carers, set up a new Care Finder platform for adults and supported many residents facing challenges posed by the cost of living.

Difficult financial pressures on local authorities across the country are well documented. Bexley is no exception. Our population is growing but funding provided from central Government has not been keeping pace with the increasing demands and costs. We work hard to keep our spending within our means and we are lobbying for a greater share of central funding, to meet the growing needs of our residents.

In contrast to some councils, however, our budget for the year ahead is balanced. We will be investing more than: £500m in day-to-day services in 2025/26, including:

  • £91 million to provide social care for around 5,500 children and young people and education provision (excluding schools)
  • £135 million to support around 8,700 adults through social care

£262 million over four years through the Capital Programme, including £86m in 2025/26 Capital Programme projects such as:

  • Over £1.8m to support street properties for adult social care
  • Nearly £9m for school special education needs provision
  • £0.86m for school capital maintenance
  • Over £0.98m for the installation of Electric Vehicle Charging Points
  • Funding for playgrounds, potholes, highways repairs, Erith regeneration, road resurfacing, new homes and affordable homes through BexleyCo and the procurement of a modern new CCTV system

Council Tax

Bexley’s Council Tax requirement will result in a Council Tax for band D property with two or more residents of £2,258.03 in 2025/26.

A comparison of Bexley’s and the Greater London Authority’s Council Tax for 2025/26 with last year is shown in the table below.

Taxing Authority2024/252025/26Change
London Borough of Bexley£1,683.64£1,767.654.99%
Greater London Authority£471.40£490.384.03%
Total Tax at 
Band D		£2,155.04£2,258.034.78%

In total, the Council will be spending in revenue and capital an average of about £1.4m per day.

The Council is not the only organisation providing public services in the Borough that are partly funded from your Council Tax. The illustrations on these pages show where the money to pay for Council and other local services comes from and how it is spent.

Leader of the Council, Cllr Baroness O’Neill of Bexley OBE said:

We understand that many residents are under pressure due to the cost of living and as always, we will continue to work hard to ensure that we spend your money sensibly.

Your Council Tax goes towards paying for services we all depend on, but much of our budget comes from Central Government funding.

However, the way that funding is allocated is outdated. Bexley’s population is growing, with a shift of Inner London issues and pressures spreading to Outer London. Funding from Central Government has failed to reflect that.

Boroughs across the Outer London belt are increasingly struggling to balance their books. 
The disparity in funding between Inner and Outer London has become unmanageable. If Bexley received an average share of London’s funding, we would get an additional £63 million each year.

Just like businesses and households, we are being hit hard by decisions taken by the Government, such as National Insurance Contribution increases, which could cost the Council many millions of pounds of additional costs over the medium term.

Bexley residents deserve fairer funding and better treatment from Central Government. This is a simple message that we are pressing upon key decision makers. Urgent change to the current system is essential."

What we spend

The Council has a good track record for financial management and efficiency, making year-on-year savings to keep costs down and improve services.

Over the last 15 years we have saved £146m. In 2025/26, the Council is expecting to raise £151m from Council Tax income and above is how we expect to spend the money.

CategoryAmount per £1
Adult Social Care and Public Health33p
Children and Education23p
Chief Executive’s Office1p
Finance and Corporate15p
Places, Communities and Infrastructure22p
Levies2p
Financing Costs and Contingency4p

How is it paid for?

Council Tax is just one of the Council’s sources of income.

SourceAmount per £1
Council Tax37p
Business Rates & Revenue Support Grant15p
Government & Other Grants25p
Fees, Charges and Rents14p
Other Income8p
Contribution from Voluntary Minimum Revenue Provision1p

What we have saved

The Council has a good track record for financial management.

YearAmount
2015/16£63m
2016/17£84m
2017/18£97m
2018/19£109m
2019/20£117m
2020/21£125m
2021/22£138m
2022/23£140m
2023/24£143m
2024/25£144m
2025/26£146m

The future budget gap

The Council has set a balanced budget for the 2025/26 financial year, however there are many challenges ahead.

An illustration of a widening financial gap over three years. The image shows a man standing on the edge of a cliff with three red arrows representing increasing budget gaps for the council in future years: £32.7 million in 2026/27, £38.5 million in 2027/28, and £43.9 million in 2028/29. The arrows stretch across a chasm, symbolizing the growing funding shortfall.

The forecasted budget gap is set to reach £43.893m by 2028/29 due to rising costs, pressures and demands on services and ongoing economic uncertainty. 

There continues to be increasing spending pressures in a number of key services, including both Children and Adult Social Care, Special Education Needs Transport, Emergency Accommodation and other demand-led services such as Parking and Waste Services.

Uncertainty around the state of the economy over the next few years will also have an impact. Energy prices, inflation and interest rates have a direct impact on the Council, the amount we pay for services and the income we are able to collect. We are also being affected by Government decisions, such as National Insurance Contribution increases which could see an increase in additional costs. Our challenge is to continue to provide good quality and affordable public services, while balancing our income and spending levels in the current challenging circumstances.