The council is encouraging communities to join its campaigning for fair funding for council services, as it forecasts one of the most challenging budget positions in recent years.
Councillor Ross Moreland, Policy Lead for Finance Services said:
“Our communities unfortunately are probably used to hearing the council talk about multi-million pound funding gaps as we’ve had to make over £50 million savings in the last ten years alone.
And this year we are facing another estimated £15 million budget gap. It is always extremely difficult to estimate the level of grant we will receive from Scottish Government. As it stands, that is the level of savings we have to plan to deliver.
We would love to be able do everything our communities want us to do. Especially after years of delivering huge savings, multi-million pound funding gaps rule that out. Multi-million pound funding gaps mean very difficult decisions.”
The council works through CoSLA (Convention for Scottish Local Authorities) to raise the case for funding with the Scottish Government, the main provider of funding for local government. The council is urging communities to join it in campaigning for fair funding for their council services by saying ‘yes’ to funding, via the council website.
With the budget gap estimated to rise to around £58 million over the next five years, the council’s budget outlook was on the agenda when the Policy and Resources Committee met this week.
A report set out cost pressures on the budget for council services, as well as significant challenges facing the Health and Social Care Partnership in balancing its budget whilst protecting vulnerable people, which could put further pressure on the council’s overall financial position.
Councillor Ross Moreland added:
“There are pressures on the council budget from so many different directions. The HSCP’s financial position for example is a major risk to the council’s financial position. If the council had to significantly increase funding for social care services, there is likely be a knock-on effect to other much needed council services. This is the stark reality facing our council and local authorities across Scotland.”
The report noted that the council continues to monitor HSCP’s financial position closely.
Councillor Jim Lynch, Leader of ɬ Council said:
“There are so many demands on the council budget but we can only spend money once.
Delivering as much value as we possibly can from the funding we have is an on-going priority. So too is standing up for ɬ, not least as this area requires more from its council budget than many others, given our geography.
The gap is huge between demand for council services and resources to meet that demand. Community backing, that we can take to CoSLA as part of our campaigning for fair funding, could help build the case for funding for council services. We would encourage everyone to get involved.”
The council does not expect to hear what the funding settlement is for 2026/27 until the after the Scottish Budget is announced on 13 January 2026.
To give your backing for funding for council services in ɬ please fill in our form.
