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Have your say
Between 1 December and 8 January we are asking for your views on our budget plans.
You can read an overview of the council’s financial situation and our proposals below, and find more detail on our budget plans in our medium term financial strategy report.
Tell us your views by answering the questions in our short survey below.
Croydon Council’s budget
Croydon is home to 390,800 people - more than any other borough in London – and the council spends around £300m a year providing them with a huge range of essential services.
Most of the council’s money is spent on protecting vulnerable children and adults, with the rest on other services like collecting the bins, keeping the streets clean, libraries, parks and leisure centres.
Each year we set a budget to decide how much we're able to spend on services for Croydon residents and businesses for the next financial year.
The council’s financial situation
Croydon Council has been facing serious financial challenges.
Last month, the council said it would be asking the government for a new package of support because without extra help, it would be unable to set a balanced budget in 2023/24 or for the next four years, which it has to do by law.
To balance its budget, the council would need to reduce its spending by £130m next financial year alone – which is just not realistic out of a budget of £300m.
The council has published a Section 114 notice and said its financial situation is unsustainable, and that it needs a new approach from the government.
How did Croydon get into this situation?
Croydon Council has been facing serious financial challenges, some of which were due to past financial mismanagement.
When he was elected in May, Croydon’s new Executive Mayor Jason Perry said it was his priority to get to grips with the council finances and get Croydon back on track.
Mayor Perry launched the Opening the Books exercise – a deep dive into the council’s finances which has uncovered lots of historical issues. These will mean we need to find £75m from the council’s budget now and will add £48m a year to our budget on an ongoing basis.
You can find more about these in the cabinet papers.
We also have extraordinary levels of debt - Croydon borrowed £545m over three years from 2017 and now owes £1.6bn. This costs us £47m a year to service before we can spend any money on services for local people.
What happens now?
Firstly, it is important to remember that Croydon’s financial challenges will not prevent the council delivering vital services – the council will still deliver the everyday services that residents depend on and it is required to do this by law.
The council is taking this action and asking the government for help now, to protect local services in the future.
While we wait for the government’s response, the council is doing all it can to tackle its financial problems including:
transforming the council – so it does less, and focuses on delivering essential services well, becoming a smaller, more efficient council
selling buildings and land
making savings – this means stopping delivering some non-essential services and changing the way it delivers others.
We may also need to increase council tax and the council will take a decision on that as part of the budget for next year.
It is important to remember that even if we do all these things, we will still need the government’s help and that is why we have asked them for a package of support.
Tell us your views
It is really important to us to hear your views on our budget plans, any ideas you might have, or suggestions for how we could do things differently. You can read the council’s budget proposals here and take our short survey below. The survey closed on 8 January 2023.
You said, we did
Thank you to everyone who look part in the survey. 1,467 responses were received - find out what people told us on the council website.
In 2023/24 Croydon Council plans to spend over £300m delivering services for local people. Much of the council’s budget is spent on protecting vulnerable children and adults – named by residents as their top priorities in this survey.
Resident priorities, also included everyday services such as rubbish and recycling collections as well as clean and safe streets. The council will focus on these essential services, while also transforming the way it works to become a smaller, more efficient council that does less, but does it well.
Between 1 December and 8 January we are asking for your views on our budget plans.
You can read an overview of the council’s financial situation and our proposals below, and find more detail on our budget plans in our medium term financial strategy report.
Tell us your views by answering the questions in our short survey below.
Croydon Council’s budget
Croydon is home to 390,800 people - more than any other borough in London – and the council spends around £300m a year providing them with a huge range of essential services.
Most of the council’s money is spent on protecting vulnerable children and adults, with the rest on other services like collecting the bins, keeping the streets clean, libraries, parks and leisure centres.
Each year we set a budget to decide how much we're able to spend on services for Croydon residents and businesses for the next financial year.
The council’s financial situation
Croydon Council has been facing serious financial challenges.
Last month, the council said it would be asking the government for a new package of support because without extra help, it would be unable to set a balanced budget in 2023/24 or for the next four years, which it has to do by law.
To balance its budget, the council would need to reduce its spending by £130m next financial year alone – which is just not realistic out of a budget of £300m.
The council has published a Section 114 notice and said its financial situation is unsustainable, and that it needs a new approach from the government.
How did Croydon get into this situation?
Croydon Council has been facing serious financial challenges, some of which were due to past financial mismanagement.
When he was elected in May, Croydon’s new Executive Mayor Jason Perry said it was his priority to get to grips with the council finances and get Croydon back on track.
Mayor Perry launched the Opening the Books exercise – a deep dive into the council’s finances which has uncovered lots of historical issues. These will mean we need to find £75m from the council’s budget now and will add £48m a year to our budget on an ongoing basis.
You can find more about these in the cabinet papers.
We also have extraordinary levels of debt - Croydon borrowed £545m over three years from 2017 and now owes £1.6bn. This costs us £47m a year to service before we can spend any money on services for local people.
What happens now?
Firstly, it is important to remember that Croydon’s financial challenges will not prevent the council delivering vital services – the council will still deliver the everyday services that residents depend on and it is required to do this by law.
The council is taking this action and asking the government for help now, to protect local services in the future.
While we wait for the government’s response, the council is doing all it can to tackle its financial problems including:
transforming the council – so it does less, and focuses on delivering essential services well, becoming a smaller, more efficient council
selling buildings and land
making savings – this means stopping delivering some non-essential services and changing the way it delivers others.
We may also need to increase council tax and the council will take a decision on that as part of the budget for next year.
It is important to remember that even if we do all these things, we will still need the government’s help and that is why we have asked them for a package of support.
Tell us your views
It is really important to us to hear your views on our budget plans, any ideas you might have, or suggestions for how we could do things differently. You can read the council’s budget proposals here and take our short survey below. The survey closed on 8 January 2023.
You said, we did
Thank you to everyone who look part in the survey. 1,467 responses were received - find out what people told us on the council website.
In 2023/24 Croydon Council plans to spend over £300m delivering services for local people. Much of the council’s budget is spent on protecting vulnerable children and adults – named by residents as their top priorities in this survey.
Resident priorities, also included everyday services such as rubbish and recycling collections as well as clean and safe streets. The council will focus on these essential services, while also transforming the way it works to become a smaller, more efficient council that does less, but does it well.
If you would like this survey in a different format or language or would like to give your views by phone, call 020 8726 6000 between 10am-4pm, Monday – Friday.
