Stockport Council's Approach to Fees and Charges Consultation

Overview

Stockport Council is facing an ongoing financial challenge and increasing demand for statutory service such as adults' social care. This means that we have an anticipated gap in the budget of up to £47 million pounds over the next four years and the income generated from Council Tax and Business Rates alone will no longer be sufficient to cover the cost of some services. 

One of the ways in which we are managing this deficit is by developing a cost recovery policy, which outlines our approach for charging for services provided by Stockport Council.  The principles of the approach are to ensure that fees are set appropriately in order for us to recover our costs, whilst also delivering value to the public, at a price that is reasonable for the service.

One of the key principles is that where it is appropriate to charge for a service, we should ensure that we are making enough money from charging to cover the costs of delivering this service and if we cannot cover our costs we should consider stopping the service. 

There are some services which we currently provide at no additional cost, or for a ‘contribution’.  For some of these services we will consider whether we could either introduce a charge or increase the charge to cover the cost of providing the service.

You can read more information about the principles of the Council’s approach by clicking on the link below:

Stockport Council's Charging Principles

This consultation seeks views from the public on any other ways that the Council could generate income. Please ensure we receive your views by 6th January 2019. It is important that we receive your views by this date as all feedback will be pulled together into a report, which will then be considered by the Scrutiny Committees in January 2019 and the Cabinet meeting on 5th February 2019.