Corporate
Walsall Council agrees balanced budget for 2025/26
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Walsall Council’s budget for the 2025/26 financial year was considered and approved at a Full Council meeting on Wednesday 26 February 2025.
A balanced budget for 2025/26 was presented, which included proposals for spending, efficiencies and council tax.
“ Deputy Council Leader and Portfolio Holder for Finance, Councillor Mark Statham, said, “Despite financial pressure and rising costs, Walsall Council continues to offer excellent value for money for all our residents and businesses.
We have a track record of strong financial management, and setting a balanced budget for 2025/26 is a positive step which will help us deliver on our ambitions for the borough and invest in our communities.
However, it has been a challenge, and it is not sustainable for us to keep raising council tax and using our reserves to balance the budget. Since 2010/11, Walsall Council has received an 18.5% real term cut in funding, equivalent to £688 per household. Alongside this, the council has experienced the challenges faced by the pandemic closely followed by the cost-of-living crisis.
What we and our residents need though is a fair, multi-year government settlement in future years and the Government must address funding for local authorities to enable councils to meet rising demand, particularly in social care. “
To read the papers for the Council meeting, please visit the Council website.
The council’s budget sets out a 2.99% general council tax increase and a further 2% precept for adult social care (a total council tax increase of 4.99%). It means that in 2025/26, this increase equates to a council tax increase of 28p a day for a Band D property.
This budget includes investments of:
- £25.21m in adult social care to protect elderly citizens and vulnerable adults to fund additional demand and manage the cost of placements whilst continuing to make progress on the council’s demand management initiatives.
- £14.15m in Children’s Services and Education including £3.55m in home to school transport and £4.50m to support children in care.
- Up to £5.88m in waste management and recycling to deliver the council’s commitment to a clean and green future for communities.
Outlined in the budget is the capital programme and significant capital investment of around £214 million is planned for the borough over the four years to 2028-29.
This budget sets out savings and efficiencies. Since 2010, Walsall Council has delivered cumulative savings of £285 million, which is equivalent to 33% of the council’s annual gross expenditure. In 2025/26, the council expects to deliver £28.7m of budget reductions, increasing to £73.9m by 2029. These will be delivered through better procurement, improvements in efficiencies, increased income and delivering reductions in demand.
Walsall Council spends two thirds of its gross expenditure budget (£563 million) every year on children’s services and adult social care and demand is growing
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Notes to editors
To view the Council meeting online, please visit:
http://www.walsallcouncilwebcasts.com/
Pursuing Excellence: Our Council Plan 2025-29 sets out the council’s vision and priorities for the next four years, where its resources will be prioritised, and how it will deliver against the long-term We Are Walsall 2040 vision for the borough. To view the new council plan, visit:
In 2024, Walsall Council was named the Most Improved Council in the country at the annual Local Government Chronicle (LGC) Awards. This was in recognition of the way the council has transformed services and improved outcomes for the people of Walsall.
