Detailed information about the budget can be found on our budget page.
Revenue budget monitoring
The monthly monitoring returns are set out in detail in each directorate’s Quarterly Service Report. The information provided for the quarter 1 financial position is based on data presented to the Corporate Management Team in July 2026.
Given the challenge posed to the council’s future financial sustainability by the Government’s Fair Funding 2.0 changes, there has been an early focus on working to identify options to save £5 million during the year. This is to reduce the drawing from reserves needed to balance the budget.
Key areas of exploration have been:
- areas of underspend in 2025 to 2026
- additional income
- maximising grant use
While good progress has been made on these activities, the savings identified initially need to be the looked at in the context of the budget monitoring returns provided by all directorates. These include a forecast variance against the approved budget plus any Emerging Issues that are likely to affect the position but cannot be accurately quantified at this point.
Across the council, variances have been identified indicating expenditure above the approved budget (£0.671 million) excluding the corporate contingency. Once emerging issues are included there is a potential overspend of £5.160 million, although experience from recent years has been that a large proportion of the risks identified early in the financial year are able to be managed during the year.
The Corporate Management Team will continue to discuss with Cabinet Members a range of scenarios and approaches to make sure the overall budget is not overspent by the year end.