The Council's fees and charges policy is included within its Medium Term Financial Strategy and sets out is approach to reviewing fees and charges.
Fees and Charges Policy 2026-27
Fees and charges are a very important source of income to the council, enabling important services to be sustained and provided. As the overall cost of service provision reduces, the proportion of costs that are recovered through fees and charges is likely to grow. In order to sustain the delivery of some services in the future this revenue is essential. However, the majority of the funding for the council’s statutory services will likely still come from other sources, such as taxation and government grants.
This policy will be revised following a corporate review of fees and charges across the council. The policy and Best Practice Guidance set out the approach to be taken to fees and charges where the council has discretion over the amounts charged for services provided and for trading activities.
The purpose of this policy is to provide a consistent approach in setting, monitoring and reviewing fees and charges across the authority. This will ensure that fees and charges support council objectives and are set at a level that maximises income generation in accordance with the Commercial Strategy. The policy currently incorporates the following Charging Principles:
1. Council priorities
A Schedule of Fees and Charges shall be maintained for all charges where the council has discretion over the amounts charged for services provided and for income generating activities. All decisions on charges for services and income generating activities will be taken with reference to and in support of council priorities and recorded as delegated decisions, as appropriate.
2. Charge setting
In setting charges, any relevant government guidance will be followed. Stakeholder engagement and comparative data will be used where appropriate to ensure that charges do not adversely affect the take up of services or restrict access to services. Full consideration will be given and documented to the full costs of delivery and the opportunities for improving efficiency and reducing bureaucracy.
3. Subsidy
In general, fees and charges will aim to recover the full cost of services except where this is prevented by legislation, market conditions or where alternative arrangements have been expressly approved by the relevant Director. A proportionate business case should be created for all charges that a subsidised by the council. Approval for the level of subsidy should be obtained from the relevant Service Director, in consultation with the Chief Finance Officer.
4. Charging levels
A number of factors should be considered when determining the charge.
- Inflation – charges must be inflated by a corporately estimated inflation rate as a minimum unless there is good reason not to. For 2026-27 this is 3.6%, being the CPI rate for the preceding June; or 5% for charges that predominantly cover staffing costs.
- Statutory requirements/restrictions – charges and/or changes to charges are sometimes determined by statute, which must be followed.
- Services should aim to fully recover the cost of delivering the service through its charging, including an allowance for overheads. As a rule of thumb, 15% of income above the level needed to fund a service’s direct costs should be allowed for.
- Services must assess elasticity of demand, i.e. will a price rise actually reduce income levels as people decline to take up the service. We must not be too risk averse in this assessment, however.
5. Charging exemptions
All services provided by the council will be charged for unless prevented by statute or determined to not be appropriate for charging in consultation with the Chief Finance Officer.
6. Concessions
Concessions to priority and target groups will be considered where appropriate, in accordance with any relevant government guidance and will take account of the user’s ability to pay. All concessions should be fully justified in terms of achieving the council’s priorities. Wherever possible we will aim to provide concessions consistently across the Authority, in line with the Best Practice Guidance.
7. Review of charges
All charges and the scope for charging will be reviewed at least annually within the service area, though charges within the same service area may need reviewing at separate times in the year. The review will include those services which could be charged for, but which are currently provided free of charge. The annual review will be undertaken in accordance with the Best Practice Guidance.
The council receives revenue income for the provision of services from a very diverse range of users. These range from large corporate organisations to individual residents. Some charges are set at the total discretion of the council whereas other charges are set within a strict national framework.
Overall, however, fees and charges income is both an invaluable contribution to the running costs of individual services and a tool for assisting the delivery of specific service objectives. Either way, it is important for the level of charges to be reviewed on an annual basis. This will not necessarily result in an increase but to not do so should be as result of a conscious decision rather than as an oversight. Detailed schedules of fees and charges have been reviewed by relevant services during 2026-27 and reviewed by committees.
When considering increases services must take into account elasticities of demand. Whilst the majority of council services are unaffected by market factors there will be some price sensitivities in all of the services that are provided, albeit many of these may only be short term.
The schedules below set out current standard fees and charges levied to the public for the Council's service areas.
The schedules exclude:
- contributions from people who use our services, where these are linked to their ability to pay
- individually negotiated fees and charges
- formal individually agreed leases
- fees and charges that are not standard across the county
A minimum threshold for the amount generated by an individual charge of £100k was initially used to determine what fees and charges are included in the above schedules. However, we are working towards lowering this threshold and have provided details of more fees and charges where possible, to start to compile a full picture.
