Budget Consultation 2025/26 (Phase 2)
Feedback updated 11 Mar 2025
We asked
The second phase of the Council’s annual budget engagement exercise ran from 21 January 2025 to 12 February 2025 and sought residents' views on a range of officer policy savings proposals.
An initial Equality and Fairer Scotland Impact Assessment was published at the same time.
You said
A total of 267 responses were received.
In addition, direct representation was also made by a number of stakeholders.
You told us that impacts were likely to affect residents from the proposals in the budget engagement.
The greatest volume of responses was grouped around a number of key themes:
- libraries
- education proposals
- council tax
- voluntary sector and charities (specifically CASC/sports clubs/charities)
- environmental services (including street and land maintenance)
Impacts highlighted predominantly would affect younger and older residents and families on lower incomes.
More information on those impacts can be found in the final budget Equality and Fairer Scotland Impact Assessment.
You also provided potential mitigations that could be considered by Council. These included mitigations around
- prioritising management savings including reducing head count,
- raising income and cost recovery,
- rationalisation of schools,
- raising income through charges and enforcement action (ie parking) and
- considering reducing services rather than closures.
We did
Councillors met on 27 February 2025 and agreed the £170.98 million revenue budget for 2025/26.
A 20-year capital investment programme of £248 million was also agreed.
All respondents’ views were taken into account.
Savings of £3.814m were approved. Council also agreed to increase council tax by 13%. Most locally set fees and charges will increase by 3%.
As a result of feedback received, Council decided not to close Alva and Tullibody CAPs and not to remove the Non Domestic Rates discretionary relief for charities and sports clubs.
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
To inform the process of budget setting by councillors, Council officers have put forward a range of options which span many aspects of current service provision.
Some of these options would result in a significant reduction from existing levels of service or removal of the service. There are also options to change the way in which some services are delivered to reduce costs and changes are proposed on fees and charges.
The options are set out alongside an indication of the level of savings which would be achieved if councillors accepted them.
Officers are continuing to work to identify any further options for the coming years, as well as considering other ways of generating additional income to bridge the gap.
Your views are sought on the impacts any of the savings options put forward by officers would have on you or your community.
No decisions have been made and none will be taken by councillors until after the engagement exercise is complete.
The consultation should only take around 5-10 minutes of your time.
If you would like any further information on any of the proposals please email: consult@clacks.gov.uk.
What happens next
We will publish a summary of the results at the end of the consultation via this page.
Areas
- All Areas
Audiences
- Anyone from any background
Interests
- Budget
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