Budget consultation 2026/27

Overview

Like all local authorities, Clackmannanshire Council continues to face an extremely challenging situation in setting its budget for the year ahead.

The Council has a budget of £174.7 million to spend to support the people of Clackmannanshire. We invest that funding in important services that our communities rely on including education, social care, roads and transport, economic development, housing, planning, environmental protection, waste management, cultural and leisure services.

The cost of providing these services has continued to rise substantially in the past few years, along with a significant 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 £7.340 million and savings must be made.

Planning for this year’s budget is more complex, as the Scottish budget announcement will not take place until mid January, resulting in increased uncertainty about exactly how much the Council will be awarded by the government.

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 a number of years to ensure we meet our legal obligation to balance our budget. By 2028/29, we will have reduced our spending by the very significant amount of £100 million. Despite those savings, we still face a real shortfall between our funding and the cost of the services we deliver. 

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

That means some further difficult decisions must be made and we want to hear our resident’s views on the suggestions that will be presented so that the available funding can be focussed on where it can make the greatest impact.

Last year’s budget was agreed following a series of engagement activities where we asked local people what services were important to them. This feedback was reflected in the decisions that councillors made in agreeing the budget.

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.

Please fill in our short survey to let us know your views, and help influence this year’s difficult work to set a balanced Council budget.

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

If you would like help with filling in this online consultation, you can visit your local library/CAP and ask staff there to help you.

Also, if you would like 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.