“People want council services. We want to deliver council services. But council services need funding. We will continue to campaign for fair funding for ɬ’s council services. At the same time though we have to deal with the harsh reality facing the council of a £15 million budget gap.”
Councillor Jim Lynch Leader of ɬ Council was speaking after the Council meeting today (26 November) where £3.1 million of efficiency savings (no impact on staffing) were agreed, with a further £3 million of savings options to go to the final Council budget meeting in February 2026 for consideration.
The options going to the February meeting would mean the loss of 38.2 FTE (full time equivalent) jobs involving 67 employees, and the reduction or stopping of some services.
Councillor Lynch said:
“We won’t know until mid-January how much Scottish Government funding ɬ is getting for its council services next year.
Along with other councils, via CoSLA, we are lobbying the Scottish Government for funding settlements that cover more than a year at a time, to make longer term financial planning more possible. For next year though, we can’t unfortunately rule anything out at this stage.”
A report to Council highlights demands on the council budget such as the financial position of the Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP). If the council had to significantly increase funding for social care services, this would make its budget gap even higher, with a likely knock-on effect on other council services.
Work will continue to identify more savings options, to match the budget gap, for consideration at the budget setting meeting in February.
Councillor Ross Moreland, Policy Lead for Finance Services said:
“There’s a lot of uncertainty involved in the budget setting process which is difficult for our employees and communities who could be affected by decisions needed in February. While we wait to find out what ɬ’s funding settlement is there’s no way to avoid that unfortunately. What is certain however is that we want to do all we can to protect services, so we continue to campaign for fair funding. Thank you to everyone who has already joined us in this and said yes to fair funding. If you haven’t yet, I would encourage you to support fair funding for your council services.”
Please support funding for ɬ’s council services
To find out more about the council’s budget position and decisions made at Council, please see item 9, ‘Budget update’ on the agenda
Note
A verbal update was given at Council about the proposal, listed in the budget update appendices, for £100,000 of savings by withdrawing council involvement in all public convenience facilities.
The proposal is to deliver a targeted £100,000 of savings from the cost of running public conveniences, which would not necessarily affect all public conveniences, would have a focus on sale or community asset as well as closure, and with more work required to develop proposals around public conveniences. Further detail will go to the Council meeting in February.
