County councils · method
How each county council figure is calculated
Every county council metric on this site is built from published MHCLG returns and each council's own budget book. This page sets out the exact definition and formula behind each number, and lists every data source used.
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Metric definitions
Net revenue budget (£m a year)
Gross service expenditure − specific grants − fees and charges
Taken from each council's 2024/25 RA (budget) return to MHCLG, cross-checked against the council's own published budget book. Schools funded through the Dedicated Schools Grant are excluded, because that money is ring-fenced and passed straight to schools.
Service spend by area (£m and %)
Service line net expenditure ÷ net revenue budget × 100
RA return service lines are mapped into eight comparable areas (adult social care, children's services, highways and transport, waste and recycling, public health, environment/culture/planning, central and corporate, capital financing). Shares are rounded to one decimal and may not sum to exactly 100%.
Per household (£ a year)
Service net expenditure ÷ chargeable dwellings in the county area
Dwelling counts come from the council tax base (CTB) statistics for the same financial year. This is a cost-share figure, not a bill — households do not pay it directly in that proportion.
Band D county precept (£ a year)
County council element of the Band D council tax bill
The county precept only. District, police, fire and parish precepts are excluded, so the figure is lower than the total bill a resident receives.
Funding mix (%)
Each funding line ÷ total financing of net revenue expenditure × 100
Split into council tax, retained business rates, government grants and reserves/other, from the financing section of the RA return.
Budget trend (2019/20 to 2024/25)
Net revenue budget per year, cash terms
Cash terms, not adjusted for inflation. Comparisons across years therefore include price growth as well as real service change.
Combined service totals
Sum of every county council's service lines
The overview donut, treemap and bar charts combine all 86 UK councils, which together spend around £41.4bn a year.
Rounding, scope and known limits
- Budgets are 2024/25 planned net revenue, not audited outturn.
- Amounts are shown in £ millions a year and rounded to the nearest £1m.
- Councils classify some services differently; mapped areas are comparable, not identical.
- Unitary authorities, London boroughs and metropolitan districts are out of scope.
- Figures are cash terms unless a chart explicitly says real terms.
Every data source used
- MHCLG — Local authority revenue expenditure and financing (RA/RO returns) · api.gov.uk catalogue entry
- MHCLG — Council tax levels set by local authorities in England · api.gov.uk catalogue entry
- MHCLG — Local authority capital expenditure and receipts · api.gov.uk catalogue entry
- Local Government Association — LG Inform local authority data · api.gov.uk catalogue entry
- NHS England — Adult social care activity and finance report · api.gov.uk catalogue entry
- DfE — Education spending statistics · api.gov.uk catalogue entry
- DfT — Transport statistics Great Britain · api.gov.uk catalogue entry
- Scottish Government — Local government finance statistics · api.gov.uk catalogue entry
- StatsWales — Local government revenue budgets and council tax · api.gov.uk catalogue entry
- NI Department for Communities — Local government finance and district rates · api.gov.uk catalogue entry
Each council page also cites that council's own published budget book alongside these national releases.
Dataset versions behind each chart
County council service spend by area
County councils ranked by net revenue budget
Source link check
Data last updated 20 Jun 2026, 00:00