Budget proposals for 2025/6 and Medium Term Financial Plan 2026-2029

Between September 2024 and January 2025 we continued to work towards finalising our budget proposals for 2025/26 and medium term financial plan 2026-2029.

As part of this process we undertook two phases of consultation. During the first phase we asked for your views on:

• the approach we are continuing to use to find savings as shown in next year's proposal totalling £3.2 million for 2025/26
• our proposal to increase Council Tax for 2025/26 by the maximum of 2.99%
• whether, if we were given more flexibility from central government, we should consider raising Council Tax beyond the current allowed maximum amount
• what other services we should continue to prioritise for savings, to cover the remaining gap for next year (to meet the overall £21.7 million total for 2025/26), and longer term, to achieve the remaining £64.1 million in savings needed over the next four years

During the second phase of consultation we asked you to consider additional savings proposals. In particular we asked for views regarding the likely impact of these proposals covering; back office savings and efficiencies, activities to raise additional income and savings brought about by making changes in the way we deliver front line services.

You can find further details regarding the feedback from both consultations on our updated proposals to balance the Council budget web page