Stirling Council continues to face significant financial challenges which require us to reduce expenditure by £28million from 2021-22 to 2025-26.
Options for closing the budget gap are more limited than normal given that services are not operating as usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Pandemic has also seen the Council incur significant additional costs and loss of income, and this is likely to continue in the years ahead.
Funding for local government fluctuates, and it is not possible to maintain the same service levels we have without changing what we do or considering reducing our spending or increasing charges for services.
We’ve been signalling this pressure for a while but it’s important our citizens realise the financial reality that the Council faces in the years ahead and the feedback from, and engagement with, our citizens will be vital to help us navigate these challenges.
Big budget conversation
To set a balanced budget for 2021-22, the Council launched the Big Budget Conversation 2021-22, which started on 1 December 2020 and concluded on 24 January 2021.
The budget for 2021-22 was successfully set by Councillors at a special meeting on Thursday, 11 March 2021. The spending plans are worth £255m.
You can view our explainer video for a summary of the approved spending.