For details of the Council budget and how the money is spent

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Flintshire County Council is committed to keeping increases to Council Tax as low as possible, however, without additional funding from Governments and facing a closing gap in our budget of £14.4m, we have had no choice but set a higher Council Tax increase of 7.9% to pay for council services.
 
All six North Wales councils also contribute to the costs of the North Wales Fire and Rescue Authority and the North East Wales Coroners Service.   These costs go up every year and Flintshire has added an extra 1.1% to its portion of Council Tax to cover the increases in these contributions.

This brings the total increase of Flintshire County Council’s portion of Council Tax to 9%. 

When added to the money collected by the Police and Crime Commissioner and your Town or Community Council (as shown on your bill) the overall percentage increase for an average Band D property in Flintshire will be 8.19%.  The two tables below demonstrate the percentage and monetary increases which can be expected based on an average Band D property.

*average cost across all 34 Town and Community Councils, the cost on individual bills will differ from Council to Council

Whilst Flintshire receives the third lowest amount of funding from Welsh Government of any local authority in Wales, the Council Tax increase in Flintshire ranks as the ninth highest in Wales.

The Council Tax set by Flintshire County Council is not high compared to other English Councils.

In real terms, Flintshire’ s local Band D charge of £1,658.25 is still £154.56 lower than the average Band D charge for council run services across our near neighbours of Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Wirral, Halton, Knowsley and Shropshire as demonstrated below.

Council Tax is a local tax collected by councils in Wales and is based on the value of domestic property as set by the Valuation Office Agency.

Your Council Tax bill is made up of three separate charges – the charge being made by Flintshire County Council, the charge for North Wales Police, and the charge for your local town or community council.

Council Tax raises just 27% of the money the Council needs to pay for local services. The biggest part of our income 68% comes from Welsh Government in the form of a grant. The remaining 5% comes from the fees we charge for some services.

The Council Tax we collect is not a direct bill for the individual services provided by the Council but is pooled together to help pay for all the services we deliver.
Council Tax payers have to pay the amount of tax due for their property and cannot ask for a reduction or discount because they, or members of their family, are at a stage in their lives where they do not use some of the services provided by the Council.

Each year we provide a breakdown of where the Council's income comes from and how the money is spent.

To see the list click here

Town and Community Councils provide additional services, facilities and amenities on a local basis to the neighbourhoods they serve.

Town and Community Councils set a budget each year of how much they require to be funded through Council Tax. This is known as a Council Tax `precept` and is based on your property valuation band. Flintshire is responsible for collecting Council Tax on behalf of the 34 Town and Community Councils in the County.

The amount of ‘precept’ charged by your Town and Community Council is shown on your overall Council Tax bill. Flintshire County Council collects all tax owed and then pays your local Council its share.

It is the responsibility of the Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales to provide an efficient and effective police service for the North Wales area. This includes working with the Police and Crime Panel to set a budget for North Wales Police. The Government provides the majority of the funding necessary to run Police services in North Wales. The rest is raised through Council Tax. This is known as a Council Tax ‘precept’ and is based on your property Valuation band.

Flintshire, along with the other five councils in North Wales, is responsible for collecting Council Tax on behalf of the Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales.

The amount of ‘precept’ charged by the Police and Crime Commissioner is shown on your overall Council Tax bill. Flintshire County Council collects all tax owed and then pays the Police and Crime Commissioner its share.

Each year the Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales publishes budget information about the spending plans of North Wales Police.

Click here for more information

Every year all councils across the UK must set a budget that balances what they plan to spend with the money they receive to deliver services.
  
Per head of population Flintshire is ranked 20 out of 22 councils in Wales for the money it receives to deliver services. We receive £159.00 less per person than the Welsh average. If we received the Welsh average, based on Welsh Governments (WG) provisional settlement, we would be around £24.7m better off.   

Since 2008 Flintshire County Council has had to cut back on its spending by £110M.  Every year it has got harder and harder and balancing the budget for 2024/25 has been the hardest yet.

Like individual households, the Council is feeling the effects of rising prices and after 15 years of reduced funding and having to cut back on spending, there are very few opportunities left to do things differently to save money.   

For 2024/25 the total amount of cost pressures facing Flintshire was £32m.

This figure then fluctuated over the year, as potential options were identified:

• the gap reduced to £11m in early December 2023 and assumed an anticipated 3.1% increase in Welsh Government funding and a forecast 5% increase in Council Tax.

• On 20 December 2023 Welsh Government announced its provisional settlement for councils.  Flintshire only received 2.2% and additional funding changes.   These announcements, on top of increasing costs of rising service demands, increased the Council’s final gap to £14.4m.
 
With no extra funding from Governments, the Council has had no choice but to increase its portion of Council Tax by 9%.    7.9% to pay for council services and 1.1% to cover the increase in costs of our contributions to the North Wales Fire and Rescue Authority and the North East Wales Coroners Service. 
 
More detailed information on the financial challenges facing the Council and setting the budget for 2024/25 can be found in The budget, your Council Tax and local services Frequently Asked Questions. 

Council Tax payers on a low income and in receipt of welfare benefits including Universal Credit, may be entitled to some help towards paying Council Tax. This is called the Council Tax Reduction Scheme (CTRS). To see if you can get any help click here to use our benefits calculator.

If, having used the benefits calculator, you believe you may qualify, you can click here to submit an ‘on-line’ application for CTRS.

To help Council Tax payers budget around monthly payments, the Council can also offer instalments over 12 months instead of 10, or as many months that remain in the year up to March 2025. We also offer further flexible payment options including the opportunity to pay weekly or every 4 weeks.

If you want to change your method of payment, set up payments over 12 months, or need support making payments to your Council Tax, you can get in touch with the Council Tax team by telephone 01352 704848 or Email: local.taxation@flintshire.gov.uk.

To set up a Direct Debit simply and quickly click here

Figures published by the Welsh Government show that Flintshire County Council, with the support of local residents, is already one of the highest performing Council in Wales in its collection of Council Tax.

During 2023/24 households have understandably had difficulty meeting their Council Tax payments. However, by reaching out to these households and supporting them with applications for Council Tax Reduction Support and making bespoke payment arrangements on a case by case basis has ensured Flintshire County Council continue to be one of the highest performing council`s in Wales in terms of council tax collections.

We will continue to support these payers with their payments and we anticipate that we will eventually collect at least 98.8% of council taxes that are due in any given year- this is well above the current Welsh collection average of 97.8%.

In the financial year 2022/23 despite the anticipated effects of the cost of living, the Council collected 97.4% of Council Tax in the year it fell due which is well above the national average collected across Wales in that year of 96.1%. This was also higher than the average collection rate across England of 96.0% and in Scotland of 96.2% as illustrated below. This places Flintshire as the third highest performing Council across the 22 counties in Wales.

We continue to work with residents by making it easier for residents to pay their bills and to access our services.

We do recognise that some households struggle to pay and would urge anyone who is finding it difficult to pay to always make early contact with the Council Tax Service on 01352 704848 or by visiting our website.

Your Council Tax contributes to the full range of services we provide, other than Council Housing which is paid for by Council tenants through their rent.

Council Tax payers have to pay the amount of tax due for their property and cannot ask for a reduction or discount because they, or members of their family, are at a stage in their lives where they do not use some of the services provided by the Council.

Education and social care are examples of services which councils provide as an extension of the Welfare State. We all make our contribution to funding them, regardless of whether we engage these services on a personal basis.