Budget 2026 to 2027 consultation

Increasing Council Tax and Social Care Precept

We are consulting you on the level of Council Tax and Social Care Precept for next year, April 2026 to March 2027, that we need to set to help balance the Revenue Budget.

For 2026 to 2027, we propose to increase core Council Tax by 3% and to add a 2% Social Care Precept to help pay for social care. This would be a 5% increase in total compared to this year, 2025 to 2026.

This is the amount that government expects councils to increase overall Council Tax levels each year as part of the overall funding package for local authorities. This is made up of 3% increase in core Council Tax plus a 2% Social Care Precept. It is the maximum that is allowed without a local referendum, and it is the amount we have assumed in our financial forecast.

Increasing Council Tax and Social Care Precept would be an important part of how we can balance the budget, but is not enough on its own. If we raise Council Tax by 3% and set Social Care Precept at 2%, there will be a remaining budget gap of £20.8 million. We have therefore looked at further ways to save money or increase income wherever we can to bridge this budget gap.

Reducing costs and increasing income

We have 77 proposals for ways we can reduce costs and increase income, while continuing to deliver valued services to the people of Bristol. These proposals would balance the budget gap next year and financial pressures in the future years of our 5-year forecast.

The proposals include:

• changes to how we organise ourselves, conduct our business and raise income
• reviewing the council estate to ensure we have the right buildings in the right place to deliver and achieve our goals
• accelerating our drive to use digital technology so we are more cost-effective and flexible in everything we do
• continuing to make our case for fair funding from the government

In this consultation, we ask for your views on 16 of these proposals that could affect your experience of services. We are not asking about the other proposals because we do not think they are likely to affect services the council provides, or because we have consulted on them before.

If we don’t increase Council Tax by 3% and add a Social Care Precept of 2%, then the funding gap for our services will be greater than the £20.8 million discussed throughout this consultation, and further reductions and savings proposals will be needed to set a balanced budget. Each 1% less than a 5% increase would add £3.0 million to the budget gap.

The final decision on the council’s budget for the year April 2026 to March 2027, including levels of Council Tax and Social Care Precept and the proposals for savings, will be made by Full Council in February 2026 and will consider the outcome of this consultation.

Equality considerations

As part of our budget-setting process, we need to consider how the proposed changes could affect people differently because of their background or other circumstances, for example people in our more deprived communities.

We have a legal duty under the Equality Act 2010 to consider the impacts of our proposals on individuals based on the following:

• age
• Disability
• race including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin
• religion or belief
• sex
• gender reassignment
• sexual orientation
• being married or in a civil partnership
• being pregnant or on maternity leave

These are called ‘protected characteristics’.

We recognise that increases to Council Tax and the Social Care Precept and changes to services we provide can have a greater impact on certain groups, who may feel the effects of financial pressure more acutely. These groups may include low-income households, Disabled people, people from minoritised ethnic backgrounds, women, particularly single parents, and older residents on fixed incomes. This could potentially widen existing inequalities, especially for those already facing financial challenges or relying on vital services. However, it is essential to balance this with the need to ensure sufficient funding for the services that support those with the greatest need.

There is a question in the survey which will ask you if the proposals would have a different impact on you because of your protected characteristics. We have described how the council provides help for low-income households to pay their Council Tax bills in the ‘Further information section on the Ask Bristol budget consultation page.

We will publish full equality impact assessments to the council’s Strategy and Resources Policy Committee on 2 February 2026, prior to their recommendation of the budget to Full Council for a final decision.

This means decision makers will have the information necessary to ensure they can have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty, particularly in relation to any likely disproportionate or negative impacts, and potential mitigations, for citizens, service users and employees on the basis of their protected and other relevant characteristics.

We will also provide a cumulative equalities impact assessment to look at the potential combined equality impacts of all the proposed savings and key budget decisions taken together, to identify any compound issues or disparities, and what we can do to mitigate them. This will include consideration of any potential impacts for our workforce as well as service users and citizens.