An annual budget that injects more than £30 million of additional funding to meet ongoing cost and demand pressures in essential social care and homelessness services has been agreed by Plymouth City Council.
The additional funds have been included in the £253.4 million revenue budget for 2025/26 approved at the Full Council meeting on Monday (24 February).
Council Leader Tudor Evans said: “Despite the huge financial challenges we continue to face, we have not only managed to balance the books but also delivered a budget that remains hugely ambitious for growing Plymouth’s prosperity and delivering what Plymouth residents say matters most – creating jobs, more affordable housing, improving health, increasing safety and most importantly, supporting the elderly and protecting the most vulnerable children in Plymouth.
“It is also a budget that protects and enhances valued services such as libraries, grass cutting, street cleansing and repairing our roads and pavements.
“This is a budget that will allow Plymouth to continue to do remarkable things in difficult circumstances.”
The additional funding includes £16 million additional funding for protecting vulnerable children, £2 million for school transport for children with a Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND), £12 million for adult social care and £724,000 to support the homeless.
An extra £770,000 has also been allocated to help reduce the Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) waiting list.
The additional funding means that 83 per cent of the Council’s total revenue budget is now spent on social care services.
The 2025/26 budget also maintains a £300,000 uplift in the grass cutting budget and an additional £425,000 to increase the staff resource in the Street Services team, which manages grass cutting, street cleansing and waste collection services.
It also includes an additional £250,000 to support funding the Council’s Net Zero commitment, an extra £141,000 to support the Council’s leisure provider Plymouth Active Leisure and £226,000 to support foster carers with an additional allowance.
To deliver a balanced budget the Council needs to continue to transform how it operates to increase efficiency and reduce cost. The agreed budget requires a total of £9.6 million savings to be delivered by Council departments.
They include £3.1 million of saving through the ongoing transformation of Children’s Services and £2.7 million of savings in the Adults, Health and Communities directorate through its modernisation plans and contract savings.
To support the budget a Council Tax increase of 2.99 per cent and a two per cent precept to support adult social care services was agreed.
The full council also agreed a capital programme of £395.8 million for 2024/25 to 2028/29.
This includes funding for the transport improvement schemes, such as the Woolwell to The George scheme; the rail station regeneration scheme; investment in housing projects and tackling homelessness; projects delivering the city’s net zero ambitions; the introduction of zero emission buses; delivering the ambitions of the Plymouth and South Devon Freeport; the Armada Way regeneration scheme; highway maintenance, drainage and essential engineering projects; and the regeneration of key waterfront assets such as Tinside Lido through the Plymouth Sound National Marine Park.