Getting you value for money

Through our focus on getting value for money, we have made £17million in savings since May 2022 by making our services more efficient. This has allowed us to protect the services you rely on, whilst other councils have had to reduce what they offer to residents.  

In 2023, we sold a council owned company called CHAS for £186million. This one-off injection of funding has allowed us to pay off historic debt, make safe investments which help pay for council services, and open the Merton Legacy Fund – a pot of £15 million we will spend on projects residents want to see in their community.

Despite the challenges in funding for councils across the country, under Labour, Merton has kept its debt as one of the lowest in London. In fact, we are now lending money to other councils to help them run their services.  

We have prioritised securing grants from external sources to support our services and delivery here in Merton, including nearly £3million towards sport and culture opportunities in the borough and a multi-million pound cash injection from the Mayor of London towards building the first council homes in a generation in Merton.  

We’ve managed to keep our Council Tax lower than our neighbours in Lib Dem-run Kingston, Sutton, and Richmond, as well as Conservative-run Croydon. At the same time, we have been able to protect our Council Tax Support Scheme which helps more than 10,000 local families in Merton every year.