All extracted variables come from data/Revenue_Outturn_time_series_data_v3.2.csv (one row per council per year, 2017-18 to 2024-25; 2,329 columns). Column names and meanings verified against the Data dictionary sheet of data/Revenue_Outturn_metadata.ods. The per-year ODS tables (RS/RSX/RO1–RO6/TSR) carry the same lines for 2024-25 only; the CSV is the canonical machine-readable source.
Keys: ONS_code, LA_name, year_ending (e.g. 202503 = FY 2024-25). Filter status = submitted — the file also contains total (class aggregates) and not submitted rows. All money values are £ thousands. _empl columns are employee expenditure (staff costs), not headcount. Some lines start mid-series (e.g. homelessness detail from 202103).
| Variable | Source column (CSV) | Unit | What it says |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total service expenditure | RS_totsx_net_exp |
£000/yr | Net cost of running all services — the master denominator for overhead and mix ratios. |
| Net revenue expenditure | RS_netrevexp_net_exp |
£000/yr | Service spend after capital/financing adjustments — the budget the council actually finances. |
| Council tax requirement | RS_ctrtot_net_exp |
£000/yr | How much of the budget falls on local taxpayers. |
| Service-line net spend | RS_edu_net_exp, RS_trans_net_exp, RS_csc_net_exp, RS_asc_net_exp, RS_phs_net_exp, RS_hous_net_exp, RS_cul_net_exp, RS_env_net_exp, RS_plan_net_exp, RS_cen_net_exp, RS_oth_net_exp |
£000/yr | The spend mix: how much goes to education, transport, children's/adult social care, public health, housing, culture, environment, planning, central services, other. |
| Adult social care total | RO3_asctot_net_cur_exp (with _empl, _run_exp, _tot_exp, _sfc, _tot_inc) |
£000/yr | Usually the largest controllable budget; gross vs net shows charging income. |
| Children's social care total | RO3_csctot_net_cur_exp (same suffix family) |
£000/yr | The most demand-volatile budget; growth here drives most overspends. |
| Education total | RO1_edutot_net_cur_exp |
£000/yr | LA-retained education spend (schools mostly academised, so trends matter more than levels). |
| Homelessness total | RO4_housgfcfhml_hml_tot_net_cur_exp (from 202103) |
£000/yr | Net cost of the homelessness service — a fast-rising pressure line. |
| Temporary accommodation subtotal | RO4_housgfcfhml_tmp_acc_sub_net_cur_exp (from 202003) |
£000/yr | Spend on B&B/nightly/leased TA — the classic "expensive failure demand" line. |
| Waste collection / disposal / recycling / street cleansing | RO5_envcll_net_cur_exp, RO5_envdsp_net_cur_exp, RO5_envrcy_net_cur_exp, RO5_envstr_net_cur_exp |
£000/yr | Universal, comparable services — the best like-for-like unit-cost candidates. |
| Corporate and democratic core | RO6_cencrp_net_cur_exp |
£000/yr | Pure corporate overhead (leadership, democratic representation). |
| Management and support services | RO6_cennd_mng_spp_net_cur_exp |
£000/yr | Back-office (HR, finance, IT etc.) not recharged to services. |
| Total central services | RO6_centot_net_cur_exp |
£000/yr | All central functions including tax collection and registration. |
| Council tax collection cost | RO6_centax_cll_net_cur_exp |
£000/yr | Cost of running collection — pairs with collection rates in dataset 03. |
| Unallocated reserves, start/end | RS_resunall_start_cy, RS_resunall_end_cy |
£000 | Free reserves — the financial-resilience buffer. |
| Earmarked/schools/other reserves | RS_resoth_start_cy/_end_cy, RS_ressch_*, RS_resdsg_* |
£000 | Fuller reserves picture; DSG reserves flag SEND deficits (dataset 05). |
| Employee vs running costs, per service | _empl and _run_exp suffixes on any RO line (e.g. RO3_asctot_empl) |
£000/yr | In-house staffing vs bought-in delivery model. |
| Sales, fees and charges, per service | _sfc suffix (e.g. RO3_asctot_sfc) |
£000/yr | Income generation from users. |
| Council class | LA_class, LA_subclass |
category | Comparator group (Met District, Unitary, London Borough, Shire County/District) — never compare across classes without noting responsibilities differ. |
All ratios computed per council per year, status = submitted only. "Population" means ONS mid-year population estimates joined on ONS_code — not in this or the sibling folders; it must be sourced separately before any per-resident variable is computed.
| Variable | Formula | Feeds | Unit | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spend per resident | RS_totsx_net_exp * 1000 / population |
this CSV + ONS population (external) | £/resident | Headline size-adjusted cost; compare within LA_class only. |
| Corporate overhead ratio | (RO6_cencrp_net_cur_exp + RO6_cennd_mng_spp_net_cur_exp) / RS_totsx_net_exp |
this CSV | % | Share of budget on running the organisation rather than services. Lower ≈ leaner, but near-zero values usually mean aggressive recharging, not efficiency. |
| Central services ratio | RO6_centot_net_cur_exp / RS_totsx_net_exp |
this CSV | % | Broader overhead share, robust to recharge-line choices. |
| Waste cost per tonne | (RO5_envcll + RO5_envdsp + RO5_envrcy)_net_cur_exp * 1000 / tonnes collected |
this CSV + 12-wastedataflow |
£/tonne | True unit cost of the waste service — the cleanest cross-council efficiency measure. |
| Tax collection cost per £ collected | RO6_centax_cll_net_cur_exp / council tax collected |
this CSV + 03-council-tax-collection |
£ per £000 | Efficiency of the collection function; pair with the collection rate from 03 (cheap but poor collection is not efficient). |
| TA cost per household in TA | RO4_housgfcfhml_tmp_acc_sub_net_cur_exp * 1000 / TA households |
this CSV + 06-hclic-temporary-accommodation |
£/household/yr | Unit cost of temporary accommodation; separates high demand from expensive provision (B&B-heavy councils score badly). |
| ASC net cost per resident (or per user) | RO3_asctot_net_cur_exp * 1000 / population (better: per client using 07-adult-social-care-finance activity data) |
this CSV + ONS + 07-adult-social-care-finance |
£/resident | Adult social care unit cost; cross-check against ASC-FR gross spend in 07. |
| Reserves cover | RS_resunall_end_cy / RS_netrevexp_net_exp |
this CSV | % (of net budget) | Months of resilience; sustained fall toward zero is the classic s114 precursor — corroborate with 04-efs-s114. |
| Reserves drawdown rate | (RS_resunall_start_cy − RS_resunall_end_cy) / RS_resunall_start_cy |
this CSV | %/yr | Is the council living off its savings? |
| Staff cost share, per service | RO*_..._empl / RO*_..._tot_exp (e.g. ASC, waste) |
this CSV | % | Delivery model: in-house vs outsourced. A shift plus rising unit cost flags a bad contract. |
| Fees & charges recovery | RO*_..._sfc / RO*_..._tot_exp per service |
this CSV | % | How much of gross cost users fund (e.g. leisure RO5_culspr_*, planning RO5_plantot_*). |
| Real spend trend | CAGR of RS_totsx_net_exp (or any service line) 2017-18→2024-25, GDP-deflated |
this CSV (8 years) + ONS deflator (external) | %/yr | Cost discipline over time; compare service-line trends to peers to spot outlier growth (e.g. children's social care). |
| Social care squeeze | (RS_asc_net_exp + RS_csc_net_exp) / RS_totsx_net_exp, trend |
this CSV | % | Share of budget absorbed by statutory care — the crowding-out of everything else. |
| Homelessness spend per resident | RO4_housgfcfhml_hml_tot_net_cur_exp * 1000 / population |
this CSV + ONS (external) | £/resident | Pressure indicator; pair with 06 caseloads to split demand from unit cost. |
LA_class; shire districts and counties split responsibilities.ONS_code per year, not name.