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North Ayrshire Council sets 2026/27 Budget
North Ayrshire Council has approved its Budget for 2026/27 after a meeting of Elected Members.
This was recognised as a particularly challenging budget to set as the Council had to deal with a major funding gap, particularly related to health and social care services.
Following a series of votes, elected members agreed to raise Council Tax by 8.5 per cent from April.
This is comparable with other Council Tax increases already approved in Scotland and reflects the determination to minimise any rises while protecting services.
Quote: Finding a balance between funding vital services and keeping Council Tax levels as low as possible becomes more challenging every year. Our residents – particularly the most vulnerable in our community – are still feeling the pain of the Cost of Living Crisis. Any decision to increase Council tax is hugely difficult but every penny will go towards protecting the services which so many people in our community rely on.”
Quote from: Councillor Christina Larsen, Cabinet Member for Finance and Procurement
Meeting yesterday, (Wednesday, February 25, 2026), elected members approved a £485 million budget.
Councillors agreed to a series of measures which included reallocating £1.36m from the i3 Energy fund towards the development of a new Council-owned renewable energy project, and an additional £276,000 towards alleviating child poverty.
It was also agreed not to move ahead with the planned reduction in teacher numbers and classroom assistant hours while also reinstating school crossing patrol posts which had previously been removed.
For 2026/27, the Council received an increase of £4.961million in core grant funding from the Scottish Government, worth about 1.29 per cent of its overall Budget.
However rising costs, salary commitments and other significant financial pressures meant that savings were required in order to set a balanced budget.
Elected members agreed to use £3.5million of reserves, alongside savings totalling £7.296million. In addition, the Council also expects to reduce its workforce by 19 full-time equivalent posts in the year ahead. There will be no compulsory redundancies and this will be managed through methods such as vacant posts, turnover and redeployment.
Elected members heard that the most significant financial challenge related to the Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) which faces a significant budget deficit of up to £12.609million in 2026/27 for social care services.
Members agreed additional funding to the HSCP of £4.961million, but a budget deficit of up to £7.648million remains. This would require the HSCP to make major savings which is likely to have an impact on services and service users. The HSCP Budget will be considered separately by the Integration Joint Board on 13 March.
Published: 26 February 2026