Council budget
What our council budget is, what we spend it on, the cost-of-living crisis, what we need to do, what happens next.
What our council budget is
Our budget runs from 1 April to 31 March each year and is our spending during this period.
You can read about our budget starting from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026..
Most of our funding comes from the Scottish Government. Council tax makes up just under 20%.
The council budget sets out our revenue and capital spending for the financial year, which runs from 1 April to 31 March.
Revenue is the day-to-day running costs to provide services and includes salary and wage costs, property costs, supplies and services, administration costs, interest payments and repayment of debts.
Capital spending is what we spend on our council owned buildings and assets, including schools, roads and footways.
At the council budget meeting, any change to the rate of council tax, service charges and housing rent is also agreed.
What we spend it on
About two thirds of our budget is spent on children's and adult services including:
- running our schools
- looking after children and young people in care
- supporting people with disabilities and mental health issues
- supporting and providing care for vulnerable older people
- for Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership (RHSCP) to provide adult social care
The rest supports services for everyone, like:
- waste collection
- street cleaning and lighting
- roads, footways and parks
- ensuring our neighbourhoods are safe, clean and green for everyone who lives, learns, plays and works here.
We also provide funds for OneRen to operate the region's libraries, museums and sports facilities.
We have a separate budget which covers our council housing services as landlord to more than 11,000 households.
Reshaping our services
The cost of services we provide, like household costs, have increased significantly in recent years due to inflation, the increased cost of materials, and increased energy and fuel costs.
As a council we have made savings of around £190million since 2010 by transforming services and working smarter to ensure we can continue to invest in Renfrewshire to make it a great place to live, work, visit and invest in.
