Bexley Council is proposing an average increase of 4.3% to its fees and charges for the 2026/27 financial year as part of its draft budget and financial plans. The council's current fees and charges income stands at £179 per head, significantly lower than the average of £379 per head among its neighbouring authorities.
The proposed increase, which aligns with the Retail Price Index (RPI) as of September 1, 2025, will see actual fee adjustments vary by service type. For instance, the fee for a full back cover advertisement in the 'Bexley Magazine' is set to rise from £2,147 to £2,239, a 4.30% increase.
The draft budget for 2026/27 aims to achieve a balanced budget through a transformation programme named Future Bexley,
complemented by service and technical reviews. This budget includes an allocation of £23.815 million for contract inflation, growth, and pay increases. This overall figure is broken down into £10.572 million for contract inflation, £10.430 million for growth, and £2.813 million for pay inflation.
The Future Bexley
programme is a significant focus, with projected savings of £1.650 million anticipated in 2026/27 from its cross-cutting Customer Experience and Commercialisation initiatives. The Customer Experience programme is expected to generate £0.700 million in savings in 2026/27, rising to £0.900 million in 2027/28 and £1.000 million in 2028/29 and 2029/30. The Commercialisation programme is projected to deliver £0.950 million in savings annually from 2026/27 through to 2029/30. These initiatives are expected to result in gross savings of £1.850 million in 2027/28 and £1.950 million in 2028/29 and 2029/30.
Service reviews have been conducted across all services not already part of a transformation programme, with the exception of Property Service, which is undergoing review as part of the Commercialisation initiative. These reviews have identified additional growth and inflation requirements totalling £0.921 million for the Finance and Corporate Services (FCS) directorate and £0.206 million for the Chief Executive's (CE) directorate in 2026/27. Alongside these requirements, savings of £0.344 million were identified for FCS and £0.013 million for CE.
A total of £10.572 million has been earmarked for contract inflation uplifts for external providers in 2026/27. This sum represents the assessed inflationary needs of all services for the upcoming financial year. Within this total, £0.588 million is allocated for FCS and £0.040 million for CE, based on the inflationary requirements identified during the service reviews. However, a detailed breakdown of how this £10.572 million will be distributed among specific external providers is not provided.
The Finance & Corporate Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee noted these proposed increases during their meeting on Wednesday, February 4, 2026. The full details of the draft budget and financial plans can be found in the Finance report 2627.
