21 Sep 2026
The district council faces renewed financial pressures when it comes to setting its budget for 2027-2028.
A new report by senior finance officers at SADC has identified the challenges for the next financial year, with all council committees encouraged to make further savings or identify additional income streams.
The forecast for the council’s General Fund – the main revenue account used to pay for the day-to-day running of most local public services – is £900,000 worse than budget due mainly to increased costs in homelessness and delays in signing leases at the city centre flagship development Jubilee Square.
As at the end of July 2026, there were 244 households in temporary accommodation, including 58 placed in hotels – compared with 192 households and 27 hotel placements at the end of December 2025.
At the moment officers are trying to locate opportunities to address this budget shortfall, but if this is not possible then SADC will have to use its reserves for items required for the 2026/27 financial year, and face tough decisions in setting a balanced budget for ‘27/28.
There is a statutory requirement under the Local Government Finance Act 1992 that SADC must set a balanced budget before March 11 each year.
SADC’s reserves could be left at only 10 per cent over the minimum level of £3.4m, creating a financial risk which reduces the authority’s ability to responded to unexpected costs or emergencies.
The Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government has warned all UK councils that they should not deliberately run down their reserves ahead of Local Government Reorganisation or make any decisions which could compromise the future sustainability of new unitary authorities.
In order to make up the budget shortfall, SADC has adopted key principles across all departments, including increasing fees and charges by at least the rate of inflation or to the maximum allowed where regulations restrict increases or set the charges.
There will be a focus on charging for services where there is the ability to do so and an ongoing review of all council fees and charges to ensure service delivery costs are fully recovered where allowed by legislation.
Council Tax is assumed to increase by £6.41, a 2.99 per cent increase, providing additional income of £418K.
But the council will also focus on delivering essential services at a level that meets the statutory requirement, and securing further general efficiencies and deferral of non-essential expenditure.
Committees will now be expected to identify their budget strategy for the coming financial year based on these principles, with details expected to emerge at committee meetings over the coming months.
