Council budgets and spending Our 2025/26 budget

Our 2025/26 budget was considered at the council meeting on 27 February 2025. The gross budget for 2025/26 is £767m, with a net budget requirement of £289m. The last financial year has proved to be very challenging, and the budget position for the coming year will be no less so. Despite the scale of that challenge, there is a clear plan, shared between and pursued by cabinet and the chief officers.

Our financial plan is framed by the objectives of The Shropshire Plan (TSP), and how this prioritises services for local people. The Shropshire Plan will be reviewed and refreshed in 2025 to reflect any change in council priorities following May’s elections. Within our financial strategy, we set out clearly the challenges we, like many other councils across the country, face with ever-rising demand for services and while the cost of providing these is increasing. The amount we can raise our revenue by doesn't cover this, leading to inevitable budget pressures. However, after two years of significant financial challenge, Shropshire faces another particularly challenging financial settlement from government. We're fully aware of the scale of challenge this budget clearly sets us, and how we'll face this task head on and how hard we'll need to work to ensure that we'll achieve it.

The budget book for 2025/26 sets out our detailed revenue and capital budgets. It includes the following sections:

• Foreword
• Revenue summary
• Portfolio holder summary
• Subjective analysis
• Financial strategy summary
• Detailed budgets by service area
• Appendices supporting the revenue budget
• Housing revenue account
• Capital programme

As you'll see from the capital programme section of this book, we're planning to invest £139m into local projects in 2025/26. The capital programme remains priority led, reflecting the need for growth in the Shropshire economy, investment in infrastructure and roads, investment in schools, developing and maintaining our asset base, investment in leisure provision, and development of new housing within the Housing Revenue Account. Our capital strategy was approved by full council on 27 February 2025.

Full details of the council’s financial position are laid out in our medium-term financial strategy which was approved on 27 February 2025.