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Budget 2026 - 2027 (Phase 1)

 

Introduction

Each year the Council has to decide how best to use the money it has. This money comes from Welsh Government (79%) and Council Tax (21%), and when needed the Council’s own reserves.

 

For the past few years the cost of running Council services has gone up faster than the amount of funding we receive has. This means that we have faced a budget gap, and we must continue to make difficult and important choices to address this and also make sure the Council continues to manage public money well.

 

In this survey we would like your views on some of our plans, and your ideas for how things could be done differently to help us write our Budget Strategy for 2026-27.

 

Thank you for taking part.

0% answered

PART ONE: Council Services

In this section we will be asking you about the different services that the Council provides.

1.  

How important do you think each of these service areas are to people who live in RCT?

Social Care - Adult Services: Assessment and Care Planning Services - Social Workers, Prevention and Early Intervention Support, Domiciliary Care (homecare), Supported Living Schemes, Day Services / Centres, Respite Services, Supported Employment, Residential Care
Social Care - Children's Services: Assessment and Care Planning Services - Social Workers, Early Intervention and Prevention Services, Fostering and Adoption Services, Family Support Services, Disabled Children's Services, Residential Homes, Youth Engagement and Participation Service, Youth Justice
Public Protection: Trading Standards, Environmental Health , Registrar, Community Safety, Housing Advice and Homelessness Support
Community Services: Libraries, Adult Education, Theatres, One For All Centres
Leisure, Parks and Community Facilities: Leisure Centres / Swimming Pools, Parks and Play Areas, Bereavement Services and Visitor Attractions and Heritage (Rhondda Heritage Park, Dave Valley County Park and Pontypridd Lido
Schools
Additional Learning Needs: Children and Young People
Educated Other Than At School: Children and Young People
Attendance and Well-Being Service: Children and Young People
Nursery and Early Years
Catering Services: Schools and Meals on Wheels
Highways Management: Street Lighting, Traffic Signs and Signals, Emergency Planning
Transportation: Home to School Transport, Support for Passenger Transport, Concessionary Fares (on public transport for eligible people
Street Cleansing: Street Cleansing Operations, Grass-cutting, Enforcement Activity, Community Wardens
Highways Maintenance: Road Repairs and Drainage Works, Winter Maintenance (gritting)
Waste Services: Waste Collection and Processing / Disposal - covering recyclable and non-recyclable waste, green waste, nappies and dog waste, Education and Awareness and Enforcement activities
Parks Services: Maintenance and Management of Parks
2.  

The schools budget in RCT is currently over 31% of the entire Council budget. Depending on how much money the Council receives from Welsh Government we would like to continue to support our schools by making sure as much money as possible is provided to them to spend on educating pupils and cover their staff pay and non-pay cost increases such as building costs and day-to-day costs.              

Note: The schools budget does not include the cost of home to school transport.


How much do you agree or disagree with the following options? 

Only cover staff pay cost increases in schools
Cover staff pay and non-pay inflationary cost increases in schools
Cover all school cost increases
3.  

The social care budget (for Adult and Children’s Services) is approximately 30% of the Council’s entire budget, and Social Care has been a priority for investment for a number of years.

How much do you agree or disagree with the Council continuing to make social services a high priority for investment?
4.  

In previous years people have made suggestions in similar surveys about ways to change how some services are run to save money to help address budget gaps and make sure that these services continue to work well.

 

Please tell us how much you agree or disagree with these ideas:

Reduce leisure centre opening hours at quiet times
Reduce Council office spaces
Reduce opening times at face-to-face services at quiet times
Increase digital (online/ internet) services
Increase telephone services
Reduce post/ letters by letting people sign up for emails instead
Introduce charges for more services
Further develop preventative services to help stop problems occurring or getting worse
5.  

Each year the Council looks at the fees and charges made for our services, for example, leisure centre and swimming pool entry, bereavement services, adult education, car parking and theatre entry. We also review fines and penalty fees that are within our control (some are set by Welsh Government, for example).

              

How much do you agree or disagree with the following approaches to fees and charges?

Review each fee or charge individually (This means that some fees and charges might change more than others do)
Increase all fees and charges in line with inflation (This means that all fees and charges would be increased by the same percentage)
Increase fines and penalties by more than standard fees (This means that some fines or penalties – such as for fly-tipping – would be increased by more than fees and charges are increased)
6.  

Which of the following changes do you think would be appropriate for these types of fees and charges?

Bereavement (burial / cremation)
Car Parking
Leisure – Membership
Leisure - Pay and Play (individual admission)
School Meals (secondary schools and staff / visitors)
Social Care (Adult non-residential services)
Visitor Attraction entrance (Ponty Lido, Rhondda Heritage Park, Cinema, Theatres)

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