The final stage in the council’s annual budget setting process took place last night (Thursday).

At the Full Council meeting, councillors heard details of the £175.727m balanced General Fund budget and discussed the proposals.

The net budget for 2025/26 includes the allocations for the following directorates and the services they provide, with some examples given below.

• £46.855m for adult services, such as discharge, reablement and independence, mental health, safeguarding and commissioning.
• £12.037m for children’s services, including admissions, attendance, Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), children’s centres, early years and libraries. 
• £38.353m for Slough Children First, including fostering and adoption, early help, children in care and support, exploitation and youth justice and short breaks.
• £21.015m for Regeneration, Housing & Environment, including property and assets, environment and highways such as streetworks, refuse and recycling, road maintenance, parks and open spaces, cemetery and crematorium and street cleaning; housing management, planning and building control and economic development and regeneration. 
• £1.302m for Public Health & Public Protection, including public health services to improve healthy life expectancy and decrease health inequalities, leisure services, and public protection which includes licensing, trading standards, community safety, environmental enforcement, housing regulation and emergency planning and resilience.
• £2.800m for Chief Exec's Office, including customer services, corporate communications, complaints, casework and Freedom of Information, strategy and programmes and change.
• £2.099m for Law and Governance, including Electoral services, democratic services and scrutiny, legal services and registrar services.
• £14.894m for Corporate Services, including finance, procurement, revenue and welfare services, including council tax and benefits, transactional services, human resources, digital, data and technology services and audit.

The total service budgets are £139.355m. The remainder of the budget allocation is for other corporate budgets, including capital financing.

Among the approved plans are a 4.99% increase in the council’s element of council tax. This means an increase of £91.40 for a Band D property for 2025/26, giving a total of £1,923.09 per year, excluding the precepts from Police, Fire and parishes.

Increases to some fees and charges were also approved to cover costs or in line with inflation, though many remain the same.

Charges will increase from between one and five percent for hire of rooms in community centres, sports pitch hire, cremations including direct cremations, burials and dropped crossings.

There will be no increase in fees for memorial renewals at Slough Crematorium, bulky waste collection, resident parking vouchers or visitor permits, or access bar markings on the road, among others.

Councillor Dexter Smith, leader of the council, said: “There was some healthy debate about the budget and what it means for our residents.

“We are pleased to have brought a balanced budget for approval that enables us to provide the essential services for our residents and live within our means. This is a strong indication of the grip we now have on our finances and how we are working tirelessly to embed financial responsibility across the council. We continue to focus on investment where it is sensible and beneficial for the borough.

“I believe our budget for 2025/26 delivers what we need to manage effectively, grow where needed and be fit for the future.”

The budget is now set and will be implemented from 1 April.

Council tax letters, outlining the costs from 1 April onwards, will be sent out soon.

There is a new council tax support hardship policy going to Cabinet for approval on 17 March.

For those who receive Council Tax Support, or need to apply for this, the new application form and eligibility criteria will be available from 1 April on the council website.