Westminster Labour have delivered a budget that makes real improvements to residents lives whilst making almost £30m in efficiencies to protect vital services in difficult times.

Westminster City Council has confirmed a major new investment of £2.6m to go into cushioning the cost of adult social care – meaning hundreds of adult social care users will now not pay for care, while hard working care assistants will earn more. This comprises:

• £1.4m to increase the pay of the personal care assistants (over 400 staff) who provide care for Westminster residents through direct payments. This will improve the quality of care for those receiving care and help more people who use adult social care to employ the carer with a more competitive salary. Direct payment recipients will now be able to offer an additional £1.50- £2.00 an hour salary for their personal assistant.
• £1.2m to level up the threshold at which people start to pay for their social care costs so that it is the same for everyone regardless of age. This will help over 460 residents aged under 65 to keep more of their income before paying care bills, with several hundred on lower incomes no longer having to pay for care at all.

Other key announcements in Labour’s budget include:

• An extra £1.2m to tackle rough sleeping and help people off the pavements and into safety.
• Help to relieve Temporary Accommodation pressure on investing an additional £140 million into buying and upgrading temporary accommodation.
• An extra £1m on cost of living support– such as free school meals during school holidays, supermarket food vouchers, a hardship fund and supporting specialist advice centres.
• A further £1m investment in the Rent Support Fund to help council tenants on modest incomes who don’t have their rent covered by housing benefit deal with rising rents.
• Investing £10 million into high streets across Paddington and Bayswater to support local economies and make the areas more dynamic.
• Investing in the new Pimlico Programme to help improve the local area.
• Investing in new Community hubs such as Ernest Harris House opening this Spring and the Pimlico Community hub at site of the Old Pimlico Library opening in spring 2026.
• An additional £2m for anti-social and city management measures across the city, including the recruitment of eight new City Inspectors and doubling the number of CCTV cameras on the streets to 200, including 40 new cameras in the West End.

The Council will also deliver new savings of nearly £30m by 2028 through measures including greater efficiencies in contracts and the switch to an electric cleaning and waste fleet.

The budget sets out detailed spending plans for managing more than 20,000 local authority properties under what is called the Housing Revenue Account. The business plan includes total capital investment of £916m over the next 5 years and a total of £2.5bn over the full 30 years. The budget also sets out the business plan for funding the council’s fairer Westminster programme under its capital strategy. The Council is proposing a gross capital programme up to 2038/39 of £2.5bn, partially offset by nearly £1.2bn of income, giving a net budget of £1.3bn.

Despite the scale of new investment, the Council Tax rise equals just 48p a week for a Band D* property, which means Westminster still has the second lowest Council Tax rate in the country. The Westminster City Council part of the Council Tax rises by 4.99 per cent overall – 2.99 per cent for council services and 2 per cent for the portion set aside for adult social care.

This will be the second lowest increase in the amount of Council Tax paid in London, with Westminster is raising its Council Tax by £16 less than neighbouring Kensington and Chelsea and £78 less than Conservative Bexley.

Cllr Adam Hug, Labour Leader of Westminster City Council, said:

“Rising bills and cost of living pressures impact on everyone and I’m glad we have been able to ensure hundreds of Westminster residents no longer need to pay for their social care.

“We have also been able to look after the carers who will now receive increased pay – that is only right for people who often work long hours and provide a lifeline to vulnerable people.

“This Budget is providing security in three big ways – security at home, on the streets, and the safety net of a City Council that will do what it can to look after you when you need care. This is what drives our mission to create a fairer Westminster.”

Background information

• Adults under 65 with disabilities will be able to keep at least £272.69 a week after they have paid their care bills – meaning 147 Westminster residents will now pay less for support and 315 will no longer pay anything at all.
• The eight City Inspectors are an additional resource to the creation of the street-based intervention team announced in January https://www.westminster.gov.uk/news/new-front-line-team-tackle-street-based-anti-social-behaviour-asb-westminster
• Increase to the pay of the personal care assistants:

• • The increase to direct payments will allow recipients to provide their PAs an additional £1.50-£2 per hour. This change also aims to give more people the confidence to use the direct payment option for their care needs.
  • People drawing on social care can choose whether they want the council to arrange their care, or to arrange it themselves by receiving a direct payment. Most people who choose a direct payment use the funds to employ a Personal Assistant (PA) who helps deliver their care plan.
  • When taking on a PA, the recipient effectively becomes an employer, meaning they carry the legal, financial and practical responsibilities that being an employer entails. We work with recipients to make this as simple as possible, helping with digital platforms, insurance advice and payroll options.