Council budgets and spending Budget 2025/26 - becoming a financially sustainable council

Like councils all over the country, our day-to-day budget is under pressure, especially as a growing number of people need essential services, like social care.  Most of our money is spent on helping people - around 80% goes on vital services that safeguard and support vulnerable adults and children.

  • This pressure has increased as our population has grown older, with more complex care needs. Around 25% of Shropshire’s population is aged 65 and over. In England the average is only 18.6%. This gap is forecast to keep growing.
  • Since the pandemic and the rising cost of living, pressure on families has gone up too. There are 85% more children in council–funded care than there were in 2020, and the cost of these placements has gone up too.
  • It costs more to provide services in a rural area because of fuel expenses and the time it takes to travel around. Shropshire is the second largest inland county in England. On average we have less than one person per hectare compared to a national figure of more than four.

How is £5 of the council budget spent?

Pie chart showing social care costs compared to all other spending
Pie chart showing social care costs compared to all other spending

Many of these vital services, helping the people who need it most, are mandatory, which means we must provide them by law.  

To save money, we've made some tough choices in other areas. Here are some of the changes we've already made in 2024/25: 

  • Garden waste: people now have to pay £56 a year to have their garden waste collected in Shropshire. More than 80% of councils in England already charge for this This will generate revenue of about £4m a year

  • Buildings: we'll use fewer buildings to save on costs like heating, and move to smaller buildings that aren’t so expensive to run

  • Staff: we'll have fewer workers, removing approximately one in five jobs. This process is underway already through voluntary redundancies, not filling vacant positions and restructuring 

  • Road repairs: There will be fewer repairs to roads, like fixing potholes and streetlights 

  • Homeless accommodation: we're changing how we help homeless people, using dedicated accommodation instead of B&Bs, which are expensive and less suitable for people’s needs 

  • CCTV: In Shrewsbury, we'll stop 24/7 monitoring of CCTV, and will ask for help from partners and volunteers

Right now, anyone in Shropshire can have their say on the budget proposals for 2025/26, which include savings in waste and recycling, park and ride buses, streetlighting, museums and more.