Budget Consultation 2025/26 Priorities (Phase 1)

Overview

The Council has a budget of £161.5 million to spend to support the people of Clackmannanshire. We invest that funding in over 700 public services including education, social care, roads and transport, economic development, housing, planning, environmental protection, waste management, cultural and leisure services.

Our costs have risen significantly in the past few years, due to a combination of inflation making the cost of providing our services higher, along with a continuing rise in demand for services such as social care.

At the same time, the amount the Council receives to run services for the people of Clackmannanshire, which comes mostly from the Government, is not enough to meet the rising costs we face. That means we face a budget gap of £13.01 million this year and savings must be made.

The Council is working hard, despite these challenges, through our Be The Future programme to transform our local economy and tackle poverty and inequality to drive long term sustainable change, ensuring financial sustainability. 

We’ve already made significant savings over the past few years to ensure we meet our legal obligation to balance our budget. In fact, by 2028/29 we will have reduced our spending by £100 million! Despite those savings, we still face a real shortfall between our funding and the cost of the services we deliver. 

The Council needs to prioritise services and budgets while continuing with our transformation plans. Even where we are required in law to provide services, it is likely that the level of provision will need to be reassessed or models of delivery will look different.

Why your views matter

We are consulting with you so you can let us know whether we have identified the correct priorities for the next four years. Tell us which services you value most by completing our online survey.

Look out for a further survey in the coming weeks which will detail specific proposed changes to Council services.

The consultation should only take around 5-10 minutes of your time.