Every year, the council is legally required to set a balanced budget. We’re now looking at what money we have available to spend next year.
You can take part in the 2026/27 budget consultation from mid-October to 28 November. We'll update this webpage once the consultation opens.
As a council, this year (2025/26) we set a total budget of around £1.3billion.
Some services, such as schools, council housing, planning and car parking, receive specific income from grants or from charging fees direct to service users.
That income adds up to £906million.
This gives us a budget of £366million to deliver our day-to-day services for the 342,000 people who live in Sandwell. This is called our “net budget”.
Where does our budget come from?
- 40% comes from Council Tax,
- 56% comes from Business Rates,
- and 4% comes from non-specific government grants.
What do we spend?
For every £100 of our £366million net budget we spend:
- £30 on children’s services and education
- £27 on adult social care
- £9.50 on bins and recycling
- £6.50 on roads and maintenance
- £4 on culture and leisure
- £4 on transport
- £4 on planning and growth
- £2 on housing support
- £1.50 on public health and safety
- and £11.50 on running the council and all of its services.
Take part in the budget survey