Each year, we gather your views to inform our annual budget report, which guides recommendations for the next year’s budget and the council plan.
We received 2027 responses to the survey, which asked about council priorities, budget allocation, council tax increases and the single-person discount for council tax.
The survey detailed the council’s £1.3 billion spending and asked about the importance of various services. The top five services people told us were important, which accounted for 59% of our budget, were:
- highways and transportation - 82% rated this as important (9% of our budget)
- education - 82% rated this important (6% of our budget)
- adult social care - 77% rated this important (32% of our budget)
- children’s social care - 77% rated this important (5% of our budget)
- waste and environment - 73% rated this important (7% of our budget)
| How important do you rate this service? | Percentage of respondents who rated the service as very important or important and the total number of people who responded about that service |
|---|---|
| Adult social care and health | 77% of 1,898 respondents |
| Children's social care | 77% of 1,890 respondents |
| Culture, leisure and libraries | 59% of 1,888 respondents |
| Economic development | 64% of 1,873 respondents |
| Education | 82% of 1,874 respondents |
| Highways and transportation | 85% of 1,890 respondents |
| Housing and homelessness | 64% of 1,872 respondents |
| Planning | 44% of 1,862 respondents |
| Supporting communities | 51% of 1,861 communities |
| Waste and environment | 73% of 1,860 respondents |
| Welfare and benefits | 41% of 1,850 respondents |
| Other, including support services | 37% of 1,796 respondents |
Council tax increase
77% of respondents supported a council tax increase to fund critical services with 70% supporting an increase to fund adult social care.
| How much would you be willing to increase council tax by to help deliver critical services across North Yorkshire? | Percentage of 1,897 respondents |
|---|---|
| No increase | 23% |
| 1% | 26% |
| 2% | 21% |
| 3% | 13% |
| 4% | 7% |
| 5% or more | 11% |
| How much extra would you be willing to pay to fund the demand for adult social care services across North Yorkshire? | Percentage of 1,610 respondents |
|---|---|
| No increase | 30% |
| 1% | 31% |
| 2% | 18% |
| 3% | 10% |
| 4% | 4% |
| 5% or more | 8% |