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 give your views on our proposed budget by completing our survey before 28 November.
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