The Local Council Report / Revenue Outturn / Fees and charges recovery · markdown view

Fees and charges recovery

% of gross service expenditure · constructed · council-year

For each service, how much of its cost is covered by the people who use it — money coming in from fees, like leisure centre entry, parking or planning fees — rather than by taxpayers in general. Higher means users fund more and taxpayers subsidise less. But some fees are capped by law and some services shouldn't charge much, so only compare similar services at similar councils.

councils
316
median
14.73
q1
9.73
q3
23.25
min
1.3
max
64.61

Distribution

3.4453.58

Worst 10

CouncilClassValueIn its class
Bolsoverdistrict1.31st worst of 164
Hastingsdistrict3.112nd worst of 164
North Northamptonshireunitary3.361st worst of 62
Broxbournedistrict3.443rd worst of 164
Warwickshire CCcounty3.471st worst of 21
Hertfordshire CCcounty4.542nd worst of 21
Oldhammetropolitan4.861st worst of 36
West Sussex CCcounty5.763rd worst of 21
Sandwellmetropolitan5.92nd worst of 36
Salfordmetropolitan6.023rd worst of 36

Best 10

CouncilClassValueIn its class
Woking BCdistrict64.611st best of 164
Brentwooddistrict62.642nd best of 164
Tunbridge Wellsdistrict54.593rd best of 164
Oxforddistrict53.814th best of 164
Guildforddistrict52.275th best of 164
Nuneaton & Bedworthdistrict52.136th best of 164
King's Lynn & West Norfolkdistrict51.787th best of 164
Worthingdistrict49.198th best of 164
Mole Valleydistrict46.959th best of 164
Exeterdistrict41.7410th best of 164

Definition

namefees-and-charges-recovery
dataset01-revenue-outturn
kindconstructed
typepercentage
unit% of gross service expenditure
graincouncil-year
rolefeature
source"Formula: `RO*_..._sfc / RO*_..._tot_exp` per service (e.g. leisure `RO5_culspr_*`, planning `RO5_plantot_*`). Inputs: this dataset's CSV only"
period"FY 2017-18 to 2024-25, annual (year_ending 201803-202503)"
missingness"Rows with status other than "submitted" (i.e. "total" aggregates and "not submitted") must be filtered out; a non-submitted council-year is a genuine gap, not zero. 2024-25 covers 410/411 councils. Councils abolished/created in 2017-25 reorganisations appear only for the years they existed."
score_noteClear 'users pay vs taxpayers pay' story from this CSV alone; fee caps and policy choices dilute the efficiency reading.
calculated../calculated/fees-and-charges-recovery.csv
calculated_rows3428
calculated_periods2017-18 to 2024-25
calculated_date2026-08-13
peer_groupdistricts (n=204), unitaries (n=65), metropolitan boroughs (n=36), London boroughs (n=33), counties (n=27) — scored within each class against its median/IQR

How much of a service's gross cost is funded by its users through sales, fees and charges. Higher recovery on chargeable services (leisure, planning) reduces the taxpayer subsidy, but statutory fee caps and local charging policy limit comparability — compare like services within LA_class.