How your Council Tax is spent

As a billing authority, West Northamptonshire will send out Council Tax demands and collect Council Tax on behalf of themselves and also other precepting authorities that are entitled to collect Council Tax in the area.

These other authorities are:

• The Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Northamptonshire (who sets one council tax precept for the Police service and another council tax precept for the Fire service); and
• The various town and parish councils within West Northamptonshire Council’s boundaries

The lines that you might see on your Council Tax demand are as follows:

West Northamptonshire Council

This is the main element of West Northamptonshire Council’s Council Tax and is used to fund the services run by West Northamptonshire Council.

Adult Social Care

As an adult social care provider, West Northamptonshire Council is able to raise an additional element of Council Tax to specifically support adult social care.

Various parish councils

The name of the town or parish council will vary depending on which area you live in. But this element is set by your local town or parish council and is used to fund the services that they provide.

Special Expenses

This is another element of West Northamptonshire Council’s Council Tax. Most of the Council’s Council Tax is evenly distributed across all areas. However, special expenses allow some specific costs to be distributed according to where the services are provided. 

West Northamptonshire Council charges special expenses for the maintenance of its smaller parks and open spaces, as some Parish Councils also maintain parks and open spaces, and pass this cost on to their local taxpayers through their own precept. 

Because the smaller parks and opens spaces in the Northampton area are not evenly distributed, the special expense charge (unlike the main Council Tax element) differs across the parish areas of Northampton.

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner – Police

This is the element set by the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for providing the Police service.

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner – Fire

This is the element set by the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for providing the Fire service.

We are required by law to set a balanced budget. This budget includes all the expected costs of running our services for the year, and all the income we receive from grants and fees and charges. The remaining amount is our Council Tax requirement, and Council Tax is set to raise this amount.

The budget was set by West Northamptonshire Council on 22 February 2024. 

The regulations around council tax allow us to increase our main Council Tax by up to 3% without holding a referendum. This 3% applies to the average council tax across the area including special expenses.

The regulations also allow us to increase our Adult Social Care precept by 2% without holding a referendum. This 2% applies to the average council tax across the area.

Calculating the West Northamptonshire Council Tax increase

To calculate the Adult Social Care (ASC) percentage increase, it is necessary to show the ASC increase as a percentage of the total amount due to WNC.  

This is made up of:

• WNC General Expenses (including Special Expenses)
• WNC Adult Social Care 

For a Band D property for 2023/24 this is:

• £1,689.06 + £4.64 + £207.11 = £1,693.71

For 2024/25 the Council has chosen to increase the main element of Council Tax by 2.99% and to charge an additional 2% precept to fund increased costs for providing Adult Social Care (ASC) services.

This table below shows how Council Tax is broken down for a Band D property:

The increase for the WNC General precept is 2.99%. The increase is calculated by multiplying the total precepts above, by 2.99% and then adding this onto last year’s WNC General precept:

• £1693.71 x 2.99% = £50.67 
• 2023/24 WNC General Precept = £1486.60
• 2024/25 WNC General Precept = £1532.27 (£1486.6 + £50.67)

WNC Adult Social Care increase

This is calculated by using the same method above. The starting point is to calculate the total amount due to WNC for the previous financial year.

The increase for the WNC Adult Social Care precept is 2%.

The total precept, £1693.71 is increased by 2% and added to last year’s WNC Adult Social Care Precept:

• £1693.71 x 2 % = £33.87 
• 2023/24 WNC Adult Social Care Precept = £207.11
• 2024/25 WNC Adult Social Care Precept = £240.98 (£207.11 + 33.87)

Note that all the above figures are average figures across the whole of the West Northamptonshire Council area. It is these average figures that the allowable percentage increases apply to. 

However, the specific amounts of tax that people pay will differ from these averages for a number of reasons:

• special expenses will be different in different areas according to parks and open spaces that are funded through the West Northamptonshire Council special expense in each area
• all the above figures are for a band D property – individual council tax demands will be higher or lower if you are in a higher or lower rated property
   

Expenditure

• Adults, Communities and Wellbeing: £125.2m (33%)
• Children’s Services (incl. Trust): £83.3m (22%)
• Place and Economy: £91.2m (24%)
• Finance: £11.2m (3%)
• Corporate Services: £30.4m (8%)
• Chief executive: £2.5m (1%)
• Technical/Centrally Held: £39.7m (10%)
• Total Net Budget: £383.5m

Resources

• Council Tax: £244.9m (64%)
• Business Rates: £90.8m (24%)
• Grants and other external funding: £39.9m (10%)
• Use of Reserves: £7.9m (2%)
• Total Resources: £383.5m

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner

Please see the website for the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for more information.

For more information on the precept that the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner set for the Police and Fire Services, please see the meeting of the Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel of 6 February 2024. 

Parish / town councils

For more information on your local parish council and their budgets, please go to the website of your specific local parish or town council.