Council Tax
Each year your council tax bill tells you what you pay for your local council’s services, as well as what you contribute to other important Greater Manchester-wide public services, such as the Police and Fire and Rescue Service.
These Greater Manchester contributions are called “precepts” and always appear on your bill. The Mayor of Greater Manchester is responsible for setting these precepts.
On the bill there will be two sections which refer to Mayoral precepts. One is for the policing precept, which used to be the responsibility of the Police and Crime Commissioner, in whose name this used to appear on your bill. On your bill, this will be called the "Mayoral Police and Crime Commissioner Precept".
For 2024/25 the Mayoral Police and Crime Commissioner precept is £256.30 per year (for a Band D property) an increase of £13 (5.3%) per year.
The increase in precept funding is critical to sustain the significant improvements made in GMP to continue to strengthen public safety and together with the central Government grant will deliver:
- Remain one of the best police forces in the country in answering 999 and 101 calls.
- Further improve response times for emergency and non-emergency incidents.
- Retain investment in neighbourhood policing and crime prevention teams to further reduce neighbourhood crimes.
- Invest a further 30 police officers into front line policing roles in 2024/25.
- Increase policing of the transport network through the launch of Operation Vulcan Network with increased policing presence in and around Piccadilly and Victoria stations.
- Invest in locking up more criminals and providing swifter and better services for victims and witnesses through investment in investigations and criminal justice units.
- Invest in prosecuting offenders with a focus on increasing arrests for sex offenders and ensuring justice for vulnerable victims.
The other is called the "Mayoral General Precept". The vast majority of this comprises the costs of the Fire Service, with a small amount going to pay for other Mayoral functions.
For 2024/25 the Mayoral General precept (including Fire Services) is £112.95 per year (for a Band D property) an increase of £5 (4.6%) per year, or £75.30 (for a Band A property) an increase of £3.33. Of the £112.95 for a Band D property £81.20 relates to Fire and Rescue Services and £31.75 relates to Mayoral General functions.
The precept increase of £5 is for the GM Fire and Rescue Service and is required to ensure, given the significant increase in inflationary pressures on both pay and non-pay budgets, there is no adverse impact on frontline fire cover. In addition to funding the unavoidable impact of inflationary cost pressures, the increase will also allow additional investment in the service including an additional fire engine for GM and further investment in protection and prevention work. Together with the changes introduced through the 2023 Fire Cover Review (FCR) these changes will increase the number of fire engines across GM from 50 to 52 and allow significant investment in prevention and protection.
The Mayoral General precept has been frozen for 2024/25 and the existing precept will continue to support:
- The ‘A Bed Every Night’ emergency response scheme to reduce rough sleeping in Greater Manchester and continue to support local schemes and homelessness partnerships to end rough sleeping. This scheme is supplemented by financial support from the Greater Manchester Integrated Health and Care Partnership, Probation Service and other partners across Greater Manchester.
- The ‘Our Pass’ scheme for a further 12 months from September 2024, providing free bus travel within Greater Manchester for 16-18 year olds.
- Care Leavers concessionary pass providing free bus travel in Greater Manchester for young people 18-21 years old who have been in care.
- Bus Reform implementation as a key step toward development of The Bee Network - an integrated ‘London-style’ transport system which will join together buses, trams, cycling and walking and other shared mobility services. The Mayoral precept and Earnback grant funding will fund the procurement and implementation of local bus service contracts (bus franchising) in three ‘Tranches’. Tranche 1 commence operation in September 2023 covering Wigan, Bolton and parts of Salford and Bury, extending to the whole city region in Tranche 3 by January 2025.
- Equality panels facilitated by appropriate voluntary organisations, enabling investment in organisations which work in partnership with public services and the wider community, contributing to tackling the inequalities agenda.
GMCA 2024/25 budget information papers and livestream (external website)
Mayoral Police and Crime Commissioner Precept
Mayoral General Precept (including Fire Services)
Transport
We’ve also given details of the costs of transport in Greater Manchester. This doesn’t appear on your bill as it is mostly funded through a levy contribution from the local districts, with a smaller proportion coming from the Mayoral precept.
Waste Levy
Municipal waste disposal is funded through a levy on nine of the Greater Manchester district councils, while Wigan operates as a unitary authority and administers its own disposal arrangements. The levy funds the operation of a network of waste management facilities. This doesn’t appear on your council tax bill.
All of these issues have been considered by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, and a number of reports have been published:
Reports
The report links all take you to our external website meetings, agenda and minutes.