Balancing our budget for 2026/27
Have your say.
Background
As part of our annual budget setting cycle, we undertake a consultation with residents to ensure all voices across the district are listened to.
Councils across the country continue to face unprecedented financial pressures, and West Berkshire Council is no exception. The council is responding to increasing demands in adults' and children's social care services supporting our most vulnerable residents, and in other areas such as homelessness and home to school transport. The increases in demand, combined with higher inflation and increasing costs, are financially impacting the council and its suppliers.
Councils are required by law to deliver a balanced budget. Where a council is unable to set a balanced budget, Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) can be sought from central government. EFS involves an independent external review of the council's finances, and if necessary, the adoption by the council's Executive of a financial recovery programme.
West Berkshire Council is currently working through a range of different options to produce a balanced budget for the financial year 2026/27. To ensure that we fully understand your views and concerns, we are launching a public consultation.
Details of the council's funding and where it currently spends its budget can be viewed here.
Speaking about the budget consultation, Councillor Iain Cottingham, Portfolio Holder for Finance and Resources, said:
"The council has some very difficult decisions to make in order to set a balanced budget for the financial year ahead. It is therefore very important that we hear from individuals who live, work and visit West Berkshire, as that will assist us to better evaluate the impact of the decisions that we make."
2025/26 budget position
Forecasts earlier in 2025/26 project an overspend of £6.8 million by the end of March 2026. This is because we are experiencing a higher demand for our services and are seeing an increase in the complexity of social care support required. High inflation has increased the cost of delivering the essential services we're legally required to provide, as well as the support we offer to residents and businesses.
We are taking immediate actions to reduce the projected overspend, such as:
- reviewing recruitment activity to fill only the most critical vacancies this year
- reviewing our spend and only approving statutory (legally required) services, or which is otherwise unavoidable
- managing the number of agency workers engaged by the council
- transforming the way we work to save money
Work is continuing to balance the budget for 2025/26, with the aim of doing so by the end of March 2026.
2026/27 budget position
In 2026/27, the expectation is that planned costs will continue to be more than our funding, meaning that we will have to find further savings or income generation to set a balanced budget. The current 2026/27 savings requirement is £6.4 million. This figure assumes that Council Tax increases by the maximum 4.99%.
To fill the remaining gap, we have a range of options available, including changing how we provide services and making internal savings, for example: re-tendering contracts for better value for money, streamlining processes, and introducing new charges or increasing existing charges for some services. All proposals will be included in the report that will be considered at the Executive and Full Council meetings in February 2026.
Why we want your views
Before making any decisions on these proposals, it's important that we hear the views of our residents, communities, and other interested parties to understand how they might be affected by them, should they go ahead.
How to take part
In February 2026, we will set our budget for the financial year ahead (2026/27). To help shape that process, we want your views on:
How we could fund and prioritise the services we provide.
We are also seeking your views on the following two specific proposals. To read more about a proposal, find out how to take part and who to contact if you have any questions, please click on a link below. You might be more interested in one than the other, but if you have the time, please consider each proposal.
All responses must reach us by midday on Monday, 12 January 2026, if they are to be considered.
What happens next
All feedback will be analysed and a recommendation made as part of the budget papers for 2026/27 at the Executive meeting on Thursday, 12 February 2026. A final decision whether to proceed with the proposal will then be made by elected Members at the meeting of Full Council on Thursday, 26 February 2026.
The recommendations will also be reviewed and discussed by members of the Resources and Place Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday, 10 February 2026.
Meetings of the Executive and Full council are open to the public, as required by law, but you may be excluded from some discussions on confidential matters. If you'd like to ask a question at a meeting, find out what can and can't be asked, and how to submit your question here.
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