How we spend your money

Plymouth is a great place to live and the Council plays a key part in making sure the day-to-day life of the city runs smoothly. We provide support for the more vulnerable and with our partners, make long-term plans to improve life for everyone who lives here.

We have over 300 services with staff that work to keep our streets clean, keep us all on the move, enable our children to achieve and enjoy their schools as well as be on hand for key moments of people's lives, such as weddings and registering births.

Your council tax pays for a huge range of services.

This year we:

• served an average of 51,378 free school meals a month
• stopped more than 500 families from becoming homeless
• taught 37,644 children and young people in our schools
• collected 111,820 tonnes of waste - that's 446 kg for each of us
• looked after 5,061 children in our children’s centres
• looked after 950 hectares of parks, open spaces and woodland
• helped over 11,000 older and vulnerable adults
• used 1,300 tonnes of grit on roads this winter so far - compared to an average of 500 tonnes

Plymouth City Council shares a vision with its partners 'to be one of Europe's most vibrant waterfront cities, where an outstanding quality of life is enjoyed by everyone.'

Like all public organisations we face challenging times ahead. The Comprehensive Spending Review means there will be almost 30 per cent less Government grant funding coming to us over the next four years.

We have anticipated the difficult financial climate and with our partners, are concentrating our work and resources on what we can deliver.

We have refocused our attention to four themes: raising aspirations, reducing the health gaps between different communities, providing value for money and delivering growth.

The last 12 months has seen some incredible progress across the city and we hope you will spend time reading about the good stuff that couldn't happen without your help, through your council tax.

Your guide to services in Plymouth 2012/2013 [1.63MB]

Includes information about what we do, how we're doing, how we spend your money, spending your money wisely, making the sums add up, what has changed since last year, what your bill includes, benefits, our partners and an a-z of services we provide.