Budget 2025/26
The council's budget for 2025/26 was approved by Full Council on Tuesday 25 February 2025.
Find how the budget is considered, where the council's income comes from, what we will be doing in response to the public consultation and how we plan to be spending your money in the coming year.
Budget summary
The budget lays out how much we plan to spend on each of our main services (net of fees and charges). We collect some of this money through Council Tax, but we have other sources of income including that from Localised Business Rates Retention (BRR), New Homes Bonus (NHB), Rural Services Delivery Grant (RSDG) and from investments.
We are required to set a balanced budget before the start of each financial year.
To do this we prepare detailed budget reports to enable the annual budgets for the General Fund and Council Tax, Housing Revenue Account (HRA), and the capital programme to be set.
Supporting strategies
As part of the budget setting process we publish number of supporting strategies each year. These include the:
- Medium Term Financial Strategy
- Treasury Management Strategy
- Commercial Strategy
- Minimum Revenue Provision Statement
- Ethical Investment Policy
Council Tax
Although we collect Council Tax from you the money doesn't just pay for our services. The majority of it goes to pay for the services provided by:
- Essex County Council
- the Police
- Essex Fire and Rescue
- town and parish councils
How we calculated the Council Tax for 2025/26.
Uttlesford District Council keeps just under 8 pence in every pound of your Council Tax.
How the budget is considered
The budget proposals were considered at 3 meetings.
- Review of budget proposals at Scrutiny Committee on 4 February 2025
- Finalisation of budget proposals at Cabinet on 13 February 2025
- Approval of final budget at Full Council on 25 February 2025
Budget consultation
Every year we ask for feedback in the form of a public survey on what our spending priorities should be. The results of this consultation help us to decide on the priorities for the budget for April 2025 to March 2026.
The budget consultation was undertaken between 20 December 2024 to 12 January 2025. Read the 
council spending - have your say consultation report (PDF) [451KB] on setting the 2025/26 budget.
Funding the budget
We are required by statute to set a balanced budget in advance of each financial year.
The budget shows a Council Tax requirement of £7,381,304, which is equivalent to £182.02 for a band D property, representing a £5.28 (2.99%) increase on the 2024/25 amount.
The forecast budget for 2025/26 is expected to be £854,000 above available funding. This means that we will have to use some of our reserves to balance the budget. This general deficit will be funded from our Medium Term Financial Strategy reserve. The Medium Term Financial Strategy 2025/26 to 2029/30 (PDF) [166KB] sets out more detail around how the we will use this reserve.
Where the council gets its income
The council has just over £55m in income.
| Income type | % | £000,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Rents | 20 | 10.9 |
| Council Tax | 13 | 7.4 |
| Business Rates | 11 | 5.9 |
| Other grants | 15 | 8.4 |
| Housing Benefit income | 21 | 11.6 |
| Interest | 5 | 2.8 |
| Fees and charges | 15 | 8.3 |
| Total | 100 | 55 |
Where the council spends its money
Summary of the 2025/26 General Fund budget.
Directorate budgets
| 2024/25 £000 | Adjustments £000 | 2025/26 £000 |
|---|---|---|---|
Business Performance & People | 1,194 | (851) | 343 |
Chief Executive | 353 | 168 | 521 |
Corporate Services | 1,591 | (28) | 1,563 |
Digital Innovation & Commercialisation | 3,051 | 615 | 3,666 |
Environmental Services & Climate Change | 2,864 | 392 | 3,256 |
Resources | 2,827 | 430 | 3,257 |
Housing, Health & Communities | 2,399 | (426) | 1,973 |
Planning | 1,249 | (146) | 1,103 |
Net expenditure | 15,529 | (203) | 15,327 |
Investment Property | 1,944 | (625) | 1,319 |
Corporate Items | 650 | 1,892 | 2,542 |
Transformation Costs | 400 | (400) | - |
External Funding | (11,525) | 712 | (10,813) |
Blueprint Uttlesford | - | (495) | (495) |
Reserves | (232) | 232 | - |
Council Tax Income | (7,056) | (325) | (7,381) |
Total | (291) | 1,145 | 854 |
See more information on where the council gets its income, the directorate budgets and the Housing Revenue Account in the Budget 2025/26 report (PDF) [6MB].
Town and parish council budgets
Details of the town and parish council precept budgets which exceed £140,000.
Town and parish council budgets
You can find information on the 7 town and parish council precept budgets which exceed £140,000 on each council's website:
- Great Dunmow Town Council
- Elsenham Parish Council
- Newport Parish Council
- Saffron Walden Town Council
- Stansted Mountfitchet Parish Council
- Takeley Parish Council
- Thaxted Parish Council
Any queries regarding these budgets should be addressed to the town or parish council directly since Uttlesford District Council has no involvement in these decisions.
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