Council drives forward £20m in savings to confront looming budget gap next year

04 November 2025

West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) is taking urgent action to tackle a major shortfall in its budget next year, with Cabinet members and senior officers already identifying £20 million in savings and efficiencies

At the start of the detailed budget setting round, the Council was forecasting a £50m gap in its revenue budget for 2026-27 – the money it spends on the day-to-day running of services. This is due to its level of funding not keeping  pace with its growing population and the continued rise in demand for services supporting the most vulnerable residents, such as children’s and adults social care, temporary housing for homelessness and SEND school transport.

To confront the challenge head-on and shape a balanced draft budget, the Council has held rigorous budget scrutiny sessions —known as Star Chambers — between Cabinet Members and senior managers. These sessions have intensely reviewed spending across all services, ensuring every opportunity to reduce costs is explored.

The sessions have so far identified around £16m of efficiencies and savings that can be made whilst continuing to protect frontline services as far as possible, plus an additional £4m of savings from the pension fund for 2026/27.

Councillor Mark Arnull, Leader of West Northamptonshire Council, said the sessions were a strong start to tackling the authority’s funding pressures next year, but difficult choices would still be needed in the months ahead.

Closing such a significant funding gap in next year’s budget is a huge task but we’re firmly focused on achieving this and have made an encouraging start.

The £20m of savings and efficiencies we have identified so far through the recent Star Chambers sessions reflects the close and effective working between our administration and senior officers in leaving no stone unturned to tackle our financial pressures.

All services across the Council have been set targets to reduce their spend for the year ahead and staff are rising to the challenge. Alongside our work with staff to identify savings and efficiencies we will also be looking at other things, such as how we can be more consistent in our approach to fees and charges for discretionary services.

Councillor Mark Arnull, Leader of West Northamptonshire Council

We know this is our Council’s most difficult budget yet and we need to be realistic that this work alone may not be enough to balance the books. We also face uncertainty as we continue to await the outcome of the Government’s Fair Funding consultation, which will give us more clarity on the future funding we will receive.

We are hopeful that the Fairer Funding will recognise that we have faced twice the national increase in population since 2014, when the grant formulas were last reviewed, even higher increases in the over 65s and pockets of high deprivation. There is a direct link between these statistics and our demand, and we hope that the final allocations reflect this."

In the meantime we will continue to drive forward our work within the Council to find whatever we can to bridge the funding gap whilst ensuring we keep essential services protected for our residents.

Cllr John Slope, Cabinet Member for Finance at West Northamptonshire Council

WNC will present its draft budget proposals for 2026-27 at its Cabinet meeting on Monday, 22 December, which will then be followed by a six-week public consultation. Feedback will then go into the final budget proposals presented to Cabinet in February followed by Full Council for final approval.

To find out more about the Council’s schedule of meetings, visit WNC website .