North Northamptonshire Council must find £30 million in bid to plug funding gap in next year's budget

The authority has warned of inflationary increases within the Children’s Trust and across adult services, which have put massive pressure on council budgets to date.

Despite the final 2026/27 budget not needing to be set until February next year, talks have already begun with senior council officers and elected members to ensure they can deliver a balanced budget.

Budget holes in future years are also expected to grow, with insufficient funding leaving North Northants facing an indicative budget gap of £53m in 2027/28 and £73m by 2028/29.

At a meeting of NNC’s corporate scrutiny committee yesterday evening (August 26), the authority’s finance boss, Claire Edwards, said officers were trying to deal with the deficits through making efficiencies, identifying opportunities to increase income and transformation activities.

The council’s general fund budget is funded from five main income sources, which are council tax, business rates, government grants, fees and charges, and the use of reserves where necessary.

In an indicative budget report published by the authority, it noted that central government funding has reduced in recent years and branded the level of funding for local government in 2026/27 as ‘very uncertain’.

The government’s funding reforms, which are likely to see multi-year settlements being introduced, and the Local Government Finance Settlement won’t be announced until late November to December this year.

Ms Edwards added: “All indications do look as though we could have a fair funding arrangement from what’s been proposed.

“At the moment, we’re looking at our funding envelope as we predicted, so we’re not necessarily changing any of those assumptions and we’re trying to deal with those deficits that we have already put in this paper.

“It’s not just trying to think about today.

"We could just look at the 2026/27 budget and just try and resolve that one year, but now we have a three-year funding settlement proposed it gives us an opportunity to have much more certainty around some of the decisions that we could make and some of the funding streams we’re going to see hopefully coming through.”

According to the report, directors and budget managers will be asked to scrutinise their spending to make sure their service is being delivered ‘as efficiently and effectively as possible’. Detailed scrutiny will be undertaken in the ‘most volatile areas’ of adult social care, home to school transport and children’s services.

A particular focus has been placed on the Northamptonshire Children’s Trust (NCT), which is a shared service with the West.

The first draft of the NCT business and budget plan will be submitted as early as next month, with the final agreement to be made in January 2026.

NNC is required to set a balanced budget and the levels of council tax for 2026/27 in February 2026. The proposals will undergo many stages of scrutiny from council officers, elected councillors and consultation with the public before its approval.

Forecasts for this financial year already indicate a potential £9m overspend on NNC’s £405m budget.

The pressures mainly relate to the cost of the NCT, adult social care and home to school transport, which make up 59 per cent of the total budget.