The budget, 2026/27: 'It can't be good', says finance leader

It is a bleak picture for the Royal Borough’s budget next year as Government changes look set to deprioritise RBWM funding in favour of more deprived areas.

Councillor Lynne Jones, RBWM’s lead member for finance, said she ‘can’t see anything good’ coming out of the 2026/27 draft budget, due to come out in December.

This comes in the wake of unwelcome news regarding the Government’s Fair Funding Review, which in a nutshell seeks to distribute funding for local councils differently.

From its money pot, the Government wants to send more money to deprived areas and less to the less deprived areas like the Borough.

The flaw in that plan, says Cllr Jones, is that it ignores the reality on the ground for RBWM, which has suffered historically low council tax, affecting its finances heavily.

“They’re assuming we’ve had average council tax for the last 15 years [and] therefore we can take a bit of a loss now,” she said. “But we haven’t.

“They feel that the residents of the Borough can afford to pay more and we should be charging council tax [to account] for that. But we can't because there's a cap on it.”

Cllr Jones is referring to the council tax raising cap, which prevents local authorities from raising council tax by more than 4.99 per cent of what it is currently.

When starting from a lower baseline due to historically low council tax, this means each rise is a small amount compared to neighbouring authorities doing the same increase.

RBWM asked the Government for permission to raise council tax by 25 per cent last year, hoping to give this particular problem the boot – but had to settle for 8.99 per cent.

It then had to ask for Exceptional Financial Support, which amounts to effectively a loan from the Government.

“Immediately, you're looking at something like £14million pounds this year being paid out in interest and [repayments],” said Cllr Jones.

“If we borrow more, that goes up. It’s just not viable at all.”

Meanwhile, Cllr Sally Coneron, leader of the Conservative group, said she hopes residents will get the ‘straight answers’ they deserve, especially on council tax rises.

Despite the significant council tax increase last year, ‘there is barely anything to show for it’, she said.

“What has actually improved? What services are better? Where is the value for residents?” she asked.

“Under this Lib Dem administration, we are already seeing worrying signs of financial mismanagement, services [that] are regularly overspending their budgets.

“The council has still had to request millions in emergency support from the Government just to balance the books.

She continued: “Excuses don’t fix potholes, support local families, or balance the books.

“Residents need a budget that delivers real results.”

Cllr Coneron vowed to ensure the Conservative opposition ‘scrutinise every line’ of the draft budget.

“We will support anything that truly benefits residents, and we will challenge anything that simply asks them to pay more for less,” she said.

The draft 2026/27 budget is set to be discussed by the cabinet on December 16.