Wiltshire Council budget confirmed for 2025/26 with prevention continuing to be the council's top priority

Wiltshire Council's budget for 2025/26 has been approved with its strong long-term focus on prevention ensuring it can continue to invest in key services for residents, communities and businesses while living within its means.

The budget was debated and agreed at the meeting of Full Council on 25 February.

The confirmed Wiltshire Council budget for 2025/26 is £527.42m, compared to last year's £490m. There will be a net £37m increase in spending on services, ensuring the resources are provided to deliver the council's Business Plan priorities. In addition, around £53m has been added into the 2025/26 service budgets to support the delivery of services that are focussed on the council's preventative and early help work, delivering the best outcomes for the residents of Wiltshire.

The council's strong financial foundations mean it doesn't need to increase the Wiltshire Council element of its council tax as much as it is permitted to by Government - being one of the few councils in the country in this position. Therefore, it will increase it by 4.5% (2.5% for basic council tax and a 2% adult social care levy) rather than the full 4.99% permitted. This sees an increase of £1.56 per week for those in a Band D property for the Wiltshire Council element of council tax. The adult social care levy will raise £7m and will help to fund the £20m of inflation and demand growth that has been built into the Adult Social Care budget.

Cllr Richard Clewer, Leader of Wiltshire Council, said: It is a huge responsibility allocating money for the services that so many people rely on and it's one we take very seriously. Focusing on our finances is a day by day, month by month task and this forensic attention and looking at the bigger picture is the reason why we are in a position where we can continue to invest to improve our county and support residents.

We have received significantly less grant money from Government and local government as a whole is facing huge challenges that we are certainly not immune to, but our long-term approach rather than quick fixes means we are in a more positive position than many. We are a council that won't be using reserves to plug any budget gaps as this can set off a spiral that is so hard to get out of. We are a council that doesn't need to charge people any more than is necessary in council tax. We are a council that provides a strong safety net for those who need us. And we are a council that can be brave and invest, ensuring Wiltshire is a place that people want to live in, work in, set up business in and visit.

In playing the long game and putting all our focus and resources in prevention it means that we're at the stage now where that investment in time, money and resource is bearing fruit. This is demonstrated by our recent positive feedback for our adult, children and SEND services, the recognition on the national stage for our innovative enforcement action and our leading Community Conversation programme which is empowering residents to improve their lives. We are spending significant money on our roads, leisure, climate the arts and the infrastructure of the county all while living within our means - something we will strive to maintain.

The most significant areas of Wiltshire Council spend in 2025/26 will be:

• Adult services - £194m
• Families and children - £75m
• Highways and transport - £43.4m
• Environment (including waste) - £49.5m
• Education and skills - £38m

Although the council has received some extra social care funding from government of around £4.8m, challenges have emerged following confirmation of its local government finance settlement which the council had to respond quickly to. Through changes to government grants and the impact of employees' national insurance contributions, Wiltshire Council has almost £7 million less funding this year. The most significant loss of funding was via the stopping of the Rural Services Delivery Grant, which was designed to enable large rural authorities like Wiltshire to meet the extra costs involved in delivery of services across a wide geography with significant travel times - issues not faced by urban authorities.

Other funding recently announced is the Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (EPR) where producers are now required to pay into a national scheme based on the type and quantity of packaging that they place onto the market. In December, government announced Wiltshire's EPR payment with a minimum value set at £7.6 million to be used solely to fund effective and efficient service delivery and increase recycling rates for packaging materials.

The council has once again mapped out its future financial picture across the next few years, favouring a longer-term strategic approach rather than living year to year with uncertainty. It is proposing its budget for the 2025/26 financial year without the need to dip into its reserves and is able to set aside nearly £6m of the EPR funding to help support future changes in waste services to meet new requirements.

The council's planning and long-term sustainable approach to its finances continues to have a positive impact on the reserves and its overall financial resilience. The council has ensured that it has the same amount of monies set aside to mitigate financial risks for 2025/26 as it did last year - which is around £34m.

Performance in the families and children area of the council continues to be strong following the Outstanding Ofsted inspection in September 2023. Furthermore, late last year the council's SEND services were praised by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and given the top grade. In January the CQC also praised the council's adult social care services giving it a Good rating.

Additional funding of £1m for highways preventative flood maintenance was added to the revenue budget in 2024/25. This is now part of the base budget, allowing this enhanced service level to continue.

The council was awarded a Bus Service Improvement Plan plus (BSIP plus) grant of £2.1m per year for both 2023/24 and 2024/25, and further increased BSIP funding of £5.8m has been confirmed for 2025/26. This funding is to improve, enhance and support bus services, improve infrastructure, supporting services and assist contractors facing commercial failure to ensure services are maintained.

The council's leisure services are proving to be popular with residents, improving their health and wellbeing in high quality facilities with income growth expected to increase over the coming years. The council also recently confirmed it would uplift its funding to its art and heritage grants by 10%, with almost £379,000 due to be spent in 2025/26 to support the cultural offer in Wiltshire, which will be further improved by the council's commitment to reopen City Hall in Salisbury having recently identified a provider to operate it.

Last year the council allocated an extra £10m over the next two years to spend on filling potholes and a road resurfacing programme that is already helping to prevent potholes and other highways defects in all areas of the county. Work continues in 2025/26 to deliver this vital investment. The investment is also funding more small, local repairs to the highways and verge repairs on rural roads.

The council is continuing its commitment to enforcement, which has seen a number of fly-tipping and planning prosecutions over the past year as well as national recognition from the prestigious Keep Britain Tidy Awards. A total of £250,000 was previously allocated for 2024/25 and 2025/26 to increase the capacity of the planning enforcement team and address complex and contentious cases. Around £300,000 of other enforcement activities have been identified and delivered in 2024/25 and a further £521,000 has been allocated over the course of 2025/26 to ensure the safety of Wiltshire's communities remains a priority.

The council's capital programme outlines the authority's commitment to invest in the infrastructure of the county. The capital programme for 2025/26 has been budgeted at around £253m. It is likely the capital budget will change throughout the year as it's common for time frames on major capital projects to evolve, particularly given the external influences that the council cannot directly control.

Some of the capital spend in 2025/26 will include: 

• Council house building and stock refurbishment - £40.5m 
• SEND provision including Silverwood school - £28.6m 
• Structural maintenance and bridges - £16.2m 
• Refurbishment of council housing stock - £15.3m
• Trowbridge leisure centre - £14m (with more budgeted for the next two years) 
• A350 Chippenham bypass phases 4 & 5 - £13.9m 
• Highways investment plan- £10.4m
• Schools' maintenance and modernisation - £8.1m
• Environmental and waste projects - £8.1m
• Wiltshire Ultrafast Broadband and Wiltshire Online - £1.1m

The council is in a strong position, but just like other local authorities across the country it faces challenges and the need to make savings - ensuring it is as efficient as it can be while still providing essential high-quality services. Inflation continues to affect council contracts, while the changes to National Insurance Contributions will also have a detrimental financial impact, as well as the increasing challenges of the investment needed to manage the growing demand and complexity for vulnerable people.

The council's proposals provide the details of savings totalling £15.4m, £14.2m of which was included in last year's budget setting process and previously approved. That £14.2m figure has since been amended to £9m to reflect known changes since it was originally set. Around £6.4m of new savings have been identified to close the remaining budget gap for 2025/26.

A number of other measures are proposed to make some savings and generate income, such as ensuring the county is maximising recycling being done in the county (as this generates income for the council), an increase in some fees and charges for some services such as leisure and planning, being as efficient as possible with the council's fleet, working closely with further education providers to ensure efficient transport services, making sure the council has the right staffing and management structures, and the garden waste collection cost going to £75 per year (around £1.44 a week).

The budget papers can be found at Agenda - Democratic Services (opens new window), which also contains a replay of the meeting.