Council tackles toughest budget yet to help safeguard services

12 December 2025

Balancing the books for West Northamptonshire Council’s forthcoming financial year has been the toughest task yet in the light of the authority’s severe funding pressures and unprecedented demand for services supporting the most vulnerable people.

The Council today published its draft budget proposals for 2026-27 which will be discussed by its Cabinet on Monday, 22 December.

Like councils across the country, WNC continues to face significant financial challenges caused by increasing cost and demand for children’s and adults social care, temporary housing for homelessness and other demand led statutory services.

There also remains uncertainty around the Council’s full financial picture for next year as it still waits to find out how much Government money it will receive following the "Fair Funding" review, which changes the way grants are calculated and allocated to all local authorities.

WNC started its budgetary process this year with an anticipated shortfall of £50m for 2026/27 and embarked quickly on an early review of its finances, identifying around £20m of efficiencies and savings towards closing the gap this autumn. However, with the already-lean unitary authority having made £115m of savings over the past four years, this latest round of budget-setting has been the most difficult so far, with the search for more efficiencies to bridge the shortfall increasingly difficult.

The Council is therefore proposing a range of measures for 2026-27 to help it set a balanced revenue budget for 2026/2027 of £1.01billion (£458.9m excluding the Dedicated Schools Grant). This includes increasing its part of the Council Tax by an average 4.99% in line with what the Government allows – the equivalent of an extra £93.16 per year or £1.79 a week for the average Band D household and generating additional income of £17m to the Council.

The draft budget also reviews the Council’s discretionary fees and charges (those not required by law) which includes increasing charges for some services not used by all residents, such as garden waste collection and car parking.

“This has been the toughest budget-setting since our Council was formed five years ago and certainly the toughest, most difficult set of decisions our Administration have had to take since we took over in May.

“We could see the huge scale of financial pressures we inherited and the relentless annual savings the Council has made in the light of rising service demand and continued under funding. Despite councillors and officers working hard to unearth many more millions of pounds in efficiencies, we simply can’t find enough to bridge such a huge financial gap.

“So, as with previous years, we must look to other measures once again, like council tax and fees and charges. We know these proposals aren’t going to be popular with everyone but our top priority has to be protecting the most essential services and our most vulnerable people and ensuring we do propose a balanced budget for next year.”

Councillor Mark Arnull, Leader of West Northamptonshire Council

“Whilst we still await our final funding settlement from the Government there is always hope this may shift us towards a more favourable position, but we can’t rely on anything at this stage. We have been prudent and thorough in setting these draft budget proposals and left no stone unturned in doing so.

After discussing these proposals in great detail at our Cabinet meeting later this month, we will then be seeking the views of residents as part of an extensive six-week consultation and it’s absolutely imperative that people give their views on the measures put forward and we listen to these ahead of shaping our final budget early in the new year.”

Councillor John Slope, WNC’s Finance Cabinet Member

WNC’s Cabinet will meet to discuss the draft 2026-27 budget on Monday, 22 December at the Forum, Towcester, from 6pm. The report and papers are available to view on our Agenda page