COUNCIL TAX

What your Money is Spent On

Your Council provides a large range of services to people who visit, live or work in the Royal Borough. We receive income for some of these services, but the remaining £165 million budget is met 60 per cent from Government grant and 40 per cent from Council Tax.

In this tax year, 2007/08 we froze Council Tax for the second year running at 2005 levels. Our Council Tax is the fifth lowest in England. We are currently planning for next year's budget and are potentially facing a period of lower Government grant increase than in previous years. We always look hard for new ways to be more efficient and to save money. But we face choices between protecting or improving our services and increasing the Council Tax.

Over the last few years the responses to our budget consultation have helped guide decisions on how we allocated resources. To help us plan next year's budget, we want you to tell us what you feel should be our priorities for changes between services.

Please remember that spending more on one service could either mean spending less on another service or an increase in the Council Tax, or a combination of both.

FAMILY AND CHILDREN'S SERVICES - £45 million

Next year Government will be funding spending on schools and school services directly and will set the annual increase in spending. The Royal Borough will have the option of spending more (but not less) than the amount the Government allocates to us.

Services for schools This year we are spending £65 million on schools and schools services such as special educational needs. Most of this is now funded by dedicated Government grant for schools with the rest (£15 million) funded by the borough

Other Education Services In addition we are spending over £10 million on nursery education, adult education, support for students and services for children/young people (play and youth services)

Children and Families This year we are spending £24 million which includes services for the children we look after and children with disabilities, as well as family and support services

	Do you currently use any of the services mentioned in the previous question?

	LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVE SERVICES - £6 million
	Libraries and archive services This year we will be spending £6 million on our library services and the balance on archives

TRANSPORT, ENVIRONMENT AND LEISURE SERVICES - £40 million

Waste management This year we are spending £21 million on street cleaning and rubbish collection, recycling and waste disposal for both homes and businesses

Leisure and Arts This year we are spending £2 million on sports centres, museums and the arts

Parks and Open Spaces This year we are spending £4 million on parks and open spaces

Transportation and Highways This year we are spending £13 million on maintaining roads and pavements, street lighting, transport and road safety

	Do you currently use any of the services mentioned in the previous question?

	PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT - £6 million
	Planning and Development This year we are spending £6 million on planning services including development and building control and maintaining street trees

	Have you used any of the services mentioned in this question in the past 12 months?

ADULT SOCIAL SERVICES - £52 million

Older People This year we are spending £25 million on a range of services to older people with social care needs including residential care, home care, meals and day care

People with a Mental Health Need This year we are spending £7 million on a range of services to people with mental health problems including residential day and home based care

People with a Physical Disability or Sensory Impairment This year we are spending £6 million on a range of services to people with physical or sensory disabilities including residential, day care and home based care

People with a Learning Disability This year we are spending £7 million on a range of services to people with learning disabilities including residential and day care

Social Services - The Rest The balance of £7 million will be spent on a range of services including services to people who are substance misusers, as well as service planning

	Do you currently use any of the services mentioned in the previous question?

HOUSING AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH - £10 million

Housing This year we are spending £3 million on homeless people, housing advice, work with housing associations and other housing services including renovation grants and the inspection of hotels and hostels

Environmental Health This year we are spending £7 million on Environmental Health (food safety and training, trading standards, licensing, noise and nuisance services, pest control)

	Do you currently use any of these services?

CENTRAL COUNCIL SERVICES - £18 million

Local Voluntary Organisations £3 million on local voluntary organisations

Housing and Council Tax Benefits This year we are spending £4 million on Housing and Council Tax Benefits

Other Central Services £11 million on other Central Services including collecting business rates and Council Tax, customer services, economic regeneration, the electoral register and the Council's central policy and management

	Do you currently use any of the services mentioned in the previous question?

	COMMUNITY SAFETY - £3 million
	Community Safety spending is £3 million and includes the Council contribution to the budget for Police Community Support Officers

	Do you currently use any of the services mentioned in the previous question?

	Are there other local services, not mentioned above, that you think we should spend MORE on?

	Are there other local services, not mentioned above, that you think we should spend LESS on?

Your Council Tax Overall

We want you to think about setting the level of Council Tax for next year. Please say how much you agree or disagree with the following statements.

I would rather see the Council Tax rise than see cuts in local services

I would rather see cuts in local services than see the Council Tax rise

Council Tax should stay at the same level even if this means local services are cut

I am more concerned about maintaining the quality of local services than I am about the amount of Council Tax I pay

I believe the Council is an efficient organisation

I believe I generally get value for money from the Council

The Council currently makes a charge for some services. Increasing or reducing charges, increases or reduces, the contribution from the service user compared to the Council Tax payer. Please say how much you agree or disagree with the following statements.

Charges for services should be increased to reduce any increase in Council Tax

The Council Tax should rise rather than increasing the charges for services

More services should introduce charges where they are legally allowed, to reduce any increase in Council Tax

I agree that there should be concessions for people on low incomes who may not be able to afford to pay increased charges for services

	Are there any services that you think we should charge MORE for?

	Are there any services that you think we should charge LESS for?

	If you have any comments to make about Council Tax, please do so in the space below.

	Do you have access to the Internet?

	If YES, would you be happy to pay for Council services using the Internet?

	Did you know that you can pay Council Tax on the Internet?

	Did you know that you can pay parking fines on the Internet?

To pay your Council Tax or parking fine on-line, visit the Council's website at www.rbkc.gov.uk.

	Please use the space below to tell us if there are any other Council services that you would like to be able to pay for using the Internet.

If you would like any further information about levels of Council Tax in the Royal Borough, please contact Financial Planning on 020 7361 2427.

You have now reached the end of the questionnaire

Thank you for your time and effort in completing it.

If you have any further questions please contact Dominic Baker on 020 7361 2402 or email [email protected]

The information that you provide will be handled by Royal Borough of Kensington Chelsea in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. Your information will be used for statistical purposes and follow up where you have clearly given us your permission. No individual will be identifiable from the results and no identified data will be passed on to other organisations. Your responses will not be linked with any other data about you that we hold.

http://www.snapsurveys.com/