How we spend your Council Tax
Your council is committed to keeping the residents of South Lanarkshire informed about how we provide your services.
We do this as part of an absolute commitment to openness and providing clear information, and every year we explain exactly how we spend and invest the Council Tax that is contributed by local households to help pay for services.
When the council’s 2023-24 budget was agreed on 22 February 2023 a 5.5% increase in Council Tax rates was approved. This was necessary to help bridge a substantial budget gap, but even so Council Tax rates in South Lanarkshire remain among the lowest in Scotland.
The increase will also help pay for a number of investments approved by councillors, including more action to combat fly-tipping and graffiti, additional resources for safe routes in communities, the extension of clothing grants to eligible 3 and 4 year olds in early learning establishments, and a transformation fund to improve local leisure and culture facilities.
Full details of how we deliver our services and invest in the local area can be found in our Council Tax financial information 2023-24 section but, to offer some highlights, in a typical year we will spend our budget on:
- teaching more than 25,225 primary pupils in our new schools
- teaching more than 20,637 secondary school pupils in new school buildings
- providing 8,055 Early Learning and childcare places
- caring for 3,637 older people and adults at home
- looking after more than 1,788 older people in care homes
- collecting waste every week from more than 157,277 households
- maintaining 2,295km (1,426 miles) of roads
South Lanarkshire is the fifth largest council in Scotland, and in total we will spend more than £910 million in 2023-24 on general services on behalf of our residents. As in previous years, our biggest area of spend will be on providing education services.
We also have a General Services Capital Programme for 2023-24 that will see the council invest £91m in long-term investments in the area, including roads improvements and further upgrades to our excellent schools estate. A further £63.916m has been approved for this year’s Housing Capital Programme.