Council and elections

Key facts from our 2025 to 2026 budget

• £571.512 million budget
• £469.069 million Scottish Government grant  
• £2.5 million to unlock a £90 million investment in our roads network across the next 10 years
• £2.5 million as an initial contribution to unlock up to £170million over future years for major investment in our schools
• £700,000 for existing school pitches to improve outdoor sport and exercise opportunities
• £450,000 more for our Fairer Renfrewshire programme, helping people with the cost of living and continuing to tackle inequality and poverty
• £550,000 for our local environment, including the award-winning Team Up to Clean Up campaign, and an additional £180,000 for a dedicated community environment team
• £200,000 for parks and open spaces  
• £800,000 to encourage community ownership of council land and buildings  
• £500,000 for town centre regeneration projects
• five-year investment, totalling £292 million in Renfrewshire council housing
• £6.094 million for the Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership
• maintaining Council reserves at a minimum of £10 million
• council tax rise of 9.5% to help meet costs and fund investments
• inflationary rise of 5% for service charges and fees. 

What we are investing in

These are the budget investments agreed for 2025 to 2026:

Schools 

£2.5 million as an initial contribution to unlock up to £170million over future years which will reshape, refurbish and rebuild schools across Renfrewshire. 

Improving opportunities for outdoor sport and exercise for pupils and communities, a further £700,000 will be invested in existing school pitches.  

Roads and pathways  

A £90million investment in our roads, pathways and infrastructure over the next 10 years, delivered through £2.5million this year to unlock borrowing capacity and ringfencing £4million capital funding each year. 

It builds on the previous record £40million investment in local roads and footways in 2019 which has significantly improved the condition of our network 

Creating a fairer Renfrewshire 

Our Fairer Renfrewshire programme provides targeted support for households and families impacted by increased living costs, with £450,000 being invested in: 

• continuing the £50 winter school clothing payment to each child eligible for a school clothing grant, which has been provided every year since 2022
• delivering a further Winter Connections programme
• a summer programme for children and young people from low-income families which gives access to activities and healthy food over the school summer holidays. 

A further £450,000 will top up funding for discretionary housing payments. 

Every child aged between 2 and 5 will receive a free book every month through the Dolly Parton Imagination Library programme following a £100,000 commitment to make this permanent. 

Funding to Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau to allow them to continue to provide a Welfare Rights Advocacy service, and advice in schools. 

Reaffirming the commitment to develop an inclusive soft play area at the Lagoon Leisure Centre. 

Health and social care 

Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership will receive £5.594 million to support adult social care services, including social work, Care at Home services, care homes and occupational therapy. 

An additional £500,000 will support the recent increased costs of employer national insurance contributions. 

Recognising the invaluable contribution foster and kinship carers make to improve the lives of children in Renfrewshire, £200,000 has been committed on a recurring basis to allow a 3% increase in foster and kinship carer fees and allowances. 

Community and neighbourhood improvements 

To continue the joint-working with communities to look after neighbourhoods, £550,000 will be invested in the local environment and make the award-winning Team Up to Clean Up initiative a permanent council service. 

£180,000 will establish a community environment team dedicated to keeping communities clean. 

£30,000 will be allocated specifically to a dog fouling awareness campaign. 

£200,000 will be invested in open spaces and parks, including an initial £80,000 for the refurbishment of the Robertson Park pond, and an additional £40,000 will be provided for play park maintenance to protect the significant investment in play parks made in recent years and support their continued development. 

Our places, town centres and villages 

£800,000 to develop appropriate council land and buildings to make them more attractive for community ownership. 

£500,000 will help unlock further regeneration of our town centres for projects where redevelopment involving significant local buildings or sites may have stalled. 

£150,000 will support more local improvement projects, with £50,000 for each of the Villages Investment, Retail Improvement and the Historic Buildings in Villages funds. 

£100,000 will support the costs for communities developing local place plans. 

And £30,000 will support improvements in the Oakshaw conservation area. 

Arts, culture and events 

£150,000 will support the successful events team to work closely with the local community to develop and deliver a calendar of cultural events for the area's five main town centres. 

£50,000 to improve festive lighting in Linwood and Erskine and £50,000 for festive lighting infrastructure improvements across each of Renfrewshire's five town centres. 

Council housing  

A five-year investment totalling £292 million in Renfrewshire Council housing. 

2,100 homes will see the benefit this year of £61million of improvements, which include:  

• kitchens and bathrooms
• more energy efficient heating systems and insulation
• replacement windows and roof repairs
• building new council houses
• ongoing investment in our major housing programme benefiting 1100 homes across eight areas. 

There are also additional environment teams who improve the grounds around our council housing and a three-year, £600,000 fund which will give tenants the power to decide how it's spent.

A further £20million will bolster the responsive repairs and maintenance service tenants rely on.

What our council budget is

The council budget sets out how much we intend to spend over the financial year, which runs from 1 April to 31 March.

The council’s budget is divided into 2 main areas - revenue and capital.

The revenue budget pays for the day-to-day services - similar to your household bills - things that always require funding. Some examples include waste services, transport, environment services, the day-to-day running of schools, and social care services.

The capital budget is money that can only be used once for long term investments. New or upgraded roads, schools, building extensions, new play parks are just some examples of capital projects. These are one off investments, and they are not reoccurring costs.

At the council budget meeting in February, any change to the rate of council tax, service charges and housing rent is also agreed. 

Where our money comes from

The council receives money from a variety of sources, including government grants, taxes, and income from fees and charges.

78% of our budget comes from the Scottish Government Grant and, in some cases, has conditions attached to it (ring-fenced), so we must spend it on Scottish Government priorities.    

Council tax makes up approximately 21% of the council's budget and is spent delivering local services.

The rest (1%) comes from income from fees and charges. This is money raised locally from services such as leisure facilities, parking charges, and waste uplift charges.

How we set our budget

Each year, by law, we must set a balanced budget. That means the amount we expect to spend is no more than the amount of money we expect to receive.

Setting the budget is a process of balancing many factors and this is becoming increasingly challenging as demand for our services grows at the same time as the cost of materials, fuel and energy continues to rise.  

As a council we have made savings of around £190million since 2010 by transforming services and working smarter to ensure we can continue to invest in Renfrewshire to make it a great place for everyone who lives, learns, plays, and works here.

During 2025, we carried out research with Renfrewshire residents to find out how you feel about where you live, the services the council provides, and changes that could be made to services in the future.

You told us that you rate Renfrewshire highly as a place to live and are proud of your own neighbourhood. You told us about the services you use and how you feel about them – with schools and nurseries, children’s play areas, parks, gardens and open spaces and libraries also receiving high satisfaction scores.

You also told us that when it comes to help balancing our budget, the council should prioritise making better use of its buildings and target resources to places and people with the greatest need.

We listened as you told us your essential priorities - supporting our older and vulnerable people, supporting our children and families, and maintaining our roads, open and public spaces.

Your feedback has shaped this year’s budget priorities.  

What we spend it on

Some of the services we provide are statutory and some are non-statutory services, and we must consider this when agreeing the council's priorities and budget setting process.

Statutory services are those services which we must provide by law. This includes areas such as education, most household waste collections, social care services, social housing, registrars, cemeteries, road maintenance, and environmental health.

Non-statutory services, or discretionary services as they are also known, are those services we provide because we know how important to residents and communities they are for a good quality of life, but we do not have to provide by law. These include services such as garden waste collections and bulky uplifts, culture, sport and leisure facilities, litter picking, grass cutting services, and parks. 

About 2 thirds of our budget is ring-fenced and must be spent on children's and adult services including:

• running our schools
• looking after children and young people in care
• supporting people with disabilities and mental health issues
• supporting and providing care for vulnerable older people
• for Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership (RHSCP) to provide adult social care. 

The rest supports services for everyone, like:

• waste collection
• street cleaning and lighting
• roads, footways, and parks
• outdoor spaces and caring for our local environment
• ensuring our neighbourhoods are safe, clean, and green. 

We also provide funds for OneRen to operate Renfrewshire's libraries, museums, and sports facilities.

We have a separate budget which covers our council housing services as landlord to more than 11,000 households. 

We provide a range of newsletters to help you keep up to date with what the council is doing. 

You can choose which newsletters you would like to sign up for.  

After signing up, you'll receive regular emails with news, updates and service information. Each newsletter has its own email schedule. 

Your data will be processed in line with our privacy policy. 

What newsletters you can subscribe to 

You can sign up to receive any of these newsletters by email:  

Council news 

Get news, events, council service updates and alerts every 2 weeks.

Sign up to council news

Bin collection email reminders

You can subscribe for bin collection email reminders. They are sent a day before each collection.

Sign up to bin collection email reminders

Schools and nurseries news

Get monthly news, events, updates and alerts about schools, nurseries and education in your area.

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What's On (upcoming events)

Get updates on large town centre events in Paisley and Renfrewshire. We send What's On updates throughout the year.

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Dargavel community updates 

You’ll get news, events, information and alerts about Dargavel education and school capacity whenever updates are available.

Sign up to Dargavel community updates

AMIDS South updates

Sign up to AMIDS South updates 

You'll receive regular updates on the AMIDS South project. We'll also send you information on the works taking place on Renfrew Road, upcoming public events, and additional important updates when available.

OneRen news

You'll receive emails featuring news and updates about all OneRen activities including fitness, libraries, sport, and cultural events.

Sign up to OneRen news

How to unsubscribe 

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe option at the bottom of our emails. 

What we’re doing

We’re working on a new council website. Over time, this will replace the old website. 

We’re moving various sections to the new website as we go. You’ll see a mix of old and new style pages while we complete this work. 

Here are the sections we’ve already completed: 

• bins and recycling
• benefits and money
• council tax
• council housing. 

By the end of 2026, all sections should be on the new website, so you will not see the old style of pages anymore. 

Why we’re doing it 

The council website is where most people in Renfrewshire access the council’s services and information. Each year, 2.1 million devices visit the website, and they view our pages over 6 million times. 

We’re creating a new website because the current one is struggling to meet people's needs. For example:

• It can be hard to find the right information, especially if you do not know the name of the service you need.
• The pages are not always written in plain language, which can make them confusing or hard to understand.
• It does not work well for everyone, especially people using screen readers or mobile phones.
• The design is out of date, which makes it harder to use and less trustworthy.

We want to make sure that the services and information on the website are: 

• easy to find
• clear
• accessible. 

This means you’ll be able to get what you need as quickly and easily as possible, whether you’re applying for a garden waste permit, registering your child for school, or looking for information about your local councillor. 

How you can get involved 

Hundreds of people in Renfrewshire have already helped us test the new website and shared their feedback.

You can help too. At the bottom of each page, tell us if the page was helpful. If it wasn’t, let us know why. Your feedback helps us improve.

Relevant information and policies about this website

Copyright, content re-use and branding

Re-using content

Unless we say otherwise, you can re-use text content from the main website – Renfrewshire.gov.uk – under the Open Government Licence (OGL) v3.0. This does not apply to content on sub-domains such as myaccount.renfrewshire.gov.uk.

The OGL encourages the use and re-use of information under this licence with a few conditions, including:

• acknowledging the source, for example “Source: Renfrewshire Council, [title of page], [date], licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0”
• linking to the licence
• clearly showing if you’ve made any changes to the content.

If you intend to use information, please make sure you’re using the latest version of any guidance or information by checking Renfrewshire.gov.uk directly.

Copyright exceptions

Some content on the website needs permission the Council or is not owned by the Council. The licence does not apply to:

• Images or logos where someone else owns the copyright
• Any content where it says, “All rights reserved” or something similar
• Personal data or anything that could identify an individual
• Content that’s clearly marked as not covered by the OGL.

Use of the Renfrewshire Council logos and artwork

Use of the logo(s) implies that Renfrewshire Council has produced, approved, or endorsed the content. To protect the integrity of our communications, we do not allow our logos to be used on other websites, documents or promotional materials unless:

• we have worked in partnership to produce the content, and
• we have given explicit permission in writing.

To request permission, please contact us and include:

• your name and organisation
• the material you want to use the logo on
• the purpose of the request.

Using third-party images

If you want to re-use an image:

• check the page carefully – if it is not clear who owns it, you should assume it is not covered by the OGL
• you’ll need to ask the copyright owner for permission if the image is not licensed for re-use.

Maps and ordnance Survey data

The Ordnance Survey (OS) mapping is provided by Renfrewshire Council under licence from the Ordnance Survey to fulfil its public function to publicise local public services. 

When using the Ordnance Survey mapping, you are granted a non-exclusive, royalty free, revocable licence solely to view the licensed data for non-commercial purposes for the period during which Renfrewshire Council makes it available. 

You are not permitted to copy, sub-license, distribute, sell or otherwise make available the licensed data to third parties in any form. Third party rights to enforce the terms of this licence shall be reserved to OS.

Disclaimer

We do our best to keep information up to date and accurate, but we cannot guarantee it will always be:

• current
• complete
• accurate
• secure
• free from bugs or viruses.

Renfrewshire Council assumes no responsibility for any loss, damage or inconvenience caused as a result of any inaccuracy or error within these pages.

Renfrewshire.gov.uk availability

We try to keep Renfrewshire.gov.uk available at all times, but we can’t guarantee uninterrupted access.

We may take the site offline at any time without notice.

This page explains the terms of use for Renfrewshire.gov.uk. 

You must use this website lawfully. This means you must not:

• break any laws while using it
• do anything that restricts or interferes with other people’s use of the site.

We may update or remove content on the website at any time, without giving notice.

We use social media to share news, updates and service information. We also use it to listen to your views. These are public platforms and we aim to keep them respectful, inclusive and helpful.

Messages to our social media accounts are not monitored. If you have an emergency and need assistance, contact our services using the emergency contact numbers listed on our website.

Where you can find us

We currently use:

• Facebook
• Bluesky
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• WhatsApp
• YouTube.

Each platform has its own rules, which we follow. We also have house rules to help you engage with us in a safe and respectful way.

What our House rules are

We want our social media pages to be fair, safe and welcoming. We care about getting things right and we want to help and work with you to improve our services and create a better Renfrewshire for everyone.

We understand you may be frustrated or upset when you contact us. Please still treat our staff and other users with respect. We will not tolerate abusive, discriminatory or harmful behaviour towards our staff or other users. 

Please:

• Be civil, tasteful and relevant
• Only post what you’re happy to share publicly
• Respect different views
• Let our staff help – they are doing their best
• Don't swear or use offensive language
• Don't post anything unlawful, libelous, harassing, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful, obscene, profane, sexually oriented or racially offensive
• Don't incite, condone or encourage anything that could result in a criminal offence, civil liability or breaches any laws regarding competition
• Don't post inappropriate images or threatening, abusive, harassing, blackmailing or bullying messages online
• Don't post misinformed or misleading information, comments, replies or links
• Don't be rude and/or aggressive to members of our team, they are doing everything they can to help you
• Don't post links or direct others to sites containing viruses, corrupted files or anything that could damage or interfere with computer hardware or software, or to material which is offensive, or which may breach the terms of use of the relevant social media account
• Don't post content copied from elsewhere which you don't own the copyright for
• Don't post the same message, or very similar messages, more than once, also called "spamming"
• Don't publicise your, or anyone else's, personal information, such as contact details
• Don't advertise products or businesses
• Don't impersonate someone else.

If you don’t follow these house rules, we reserve the right to:

• remove any content that breaks these rules
• block users who repeatedly or seriously breach them
• report unlawful posts to the relevant authorities.

Endorsements and third-party content

• If we ‘like’ or ‘follow’ other accounts, it doesn’t mean we endorse them.
• Views expressed by others on our pages do not represent Renfrewshire Council.
• We are not responsible for content linked to or shared by others.

AI use on social media

We do not use artificial intelligence to create or respond to social media content. Everything we post is written by a member of our team. When you contact us, you’re speaking to a real person.

When we monitor and respond

The messages to our social media accounts are not monitored. If you message us on social media, you may receive an automatic reply.

During emergencies or significant disruptions, we may post updates outside of normal hours.

Formal complaints

We understand that people may be upset or frustrated when they contact us. 

Social media is not the place to raise official complaints.

If you want to make a formal complaint, use our complaints process.

Keeping information up to date

We aim to share accurate and timely information, but we cannot guarantee that all content on our social media pages will always be complete or up to date. For the most reliable information, check our website.