Barnsley council has approved an increase of its residents’ council tax to make up anticipated cost pressures with regards to expenses like social care in its budget for the upcoming year.
In a council meeting on 27 February (Thursday), Barnsley Council put forth and discussed the council’s annual budget which included an increase in council tax in Band D by 4.9%, with 2.9% of that to be used for Core Council Services and an additional 2.0% going to funding adult social care.
The amount of support offered by the local council tax support scheme will also be decreased to better supplement the budget.
The amount of support awarded to each band to be reduced as detailed in the table below:
| Band | Current | From April 2025 |
| 1 Protected | 92.8% | 90% |
| 1 | 92.8% | 85% |
| 2 | 83.1% | 70% |
| 3 | 61.4% | 50% |
| 4 | 37.25% | 25% |
The budget included the proposal of £5M to be invested in a 2-year pilot child travel concessions scheme to make travel more affordable for children amongst various other programmes, such as investing £1.5 million each in the Great Childhood Ambition, a programme to support children, develop family hubs and expand childcare services, and community enhancement programmes.
Speaking in the meeting, Councillor Roy Bowser said: ”There is a paramount need to protect vulnerable people in this town.”
A support package for local retail, leisure and hospitality businesses is also being developed by the council and will be implemented in time for the new financial year commencing on 1 April 2025.
Commenting on the budget, Councillor James Higginbottom said: “Today’s Budget is a Budget that invests in Barnsley.
“For the first time in 14 years, we can deliver significant extra investment in frontline services for our people and communities.”
Barnsley Labour Group said: “Barnsley’s Labour Council once again set a balanced budget for 2025/26.
“All of this extra investment is alongside delivering day-to-day services and continued investment into homes, schools and projects in all of our communities.”
A proposed amendment to direct more funding to Area councils by the Liberal Democrats on the council was also discussed but the amendment failed to pass.