Budget approved

Key points:

• More than three quarters of this budget will be spent on Education, Social Care services and Operational Services (roads, waste, open spaces, litter collection etc
• Due to insufficient funding from the Scottish Government the council has a budget gap of £34.9 million over the next three years, nearly £12 million of savings are required this year alone - as the council must legally agree balanced budget
• Legally, the amount of funding the council spends needs to be equal to the funding we receive. What we spend needs to match our income. This is what is meant by balancing our budget
•  By 2028 the council will have had to make budget savings of over £207 million (between April 2007 - March 2028)
• Council Tax will increase 8.95% in 2025/26.

Changes to services

The majority of savings measures were agreed two years ago and are implemented over a five-year period. However, more measures have had to be agreed in order to allow the Council to balance its budget - something we are legally required to do. All councils have a legal requirement to agree a balanced budget each year so if the funding provided is less than the cost of providing services overall, the council must reduce spending to balance its budget. A wide range of budget savings have already been agreed at last year's budget setting meeting and will be implemented further from April 2025.

Examples include:

• Internal savings through reviewing admin support and streamlining processes to reduce costs
• Internal management restructures
• Reduction in staff numbers in some areas, no-filling of vacancies and management restructures
• Review of existing contracts for commissioned services to achieve cost savings
• Intensive fostering campaign and development of a WL adoption services
• Significant savings across Education which includes revised scheme of devolved school management

Over £2.1 million of additional savings are proposed to help meet the increased funding gap have been approved for next year (2025/2026)

These include:

• Internal efficiency savings in staffing, property, supplies and services and transport budgets.
• Reduction in council tax empty property discounts in line with parameters set out in regulations
• Review of empty property relief and exemptions for Non-Domestic Rates
• Increased income from rent of council properties

Leader of West Lothian Council, Lawrence Fitzpatrick said:

"Everything the council does makes a contribution to life in West Lothian, and we all care deeply about our area and our services,  which is what makes setting the council's budget so challenging."

"Council services support all our lives in different ways, each and every day and the council is continuing to invest in West Lothian and local services. "Over £600 million will be invested via our revenue budget which is a record level of investment in local services.

"Protecting local services and investing in core services is our priority.

"Our teams will continue to delivering a huge number of services for our local communities and this budget aims to safeguard and sustain the essential services that local people rely upon, day to day -  services like education, social care, and support for vulnerable residents.  

"Ensuring council services are run as efficient as possible is key, both now and into the future. Bringing about more efficient services cannot be achieved without making changes that some people will be unhappy with but, ultimately, councils are faced with making difficult decisions across Scotland - as we must all set and agree a balanced budget."

He continued:

"The continuing financial crisis facing local government is of a magnitude never experienced before.

"We welcome the additional one-year funding provided to local authorities as part of the national finance settlement, but this is massively short of the increase required to stabilise finances as is the case with all Scottish Local Authorities. The scale of the financial challenges are of such a level that this additional funding does not fully address the substantial and ever increasing cost of delivering services to our local communities.  This is particularly the case in relation to delivering health and social care services. 

"COSLA has emphasised that the additional funding only provides a real terms protection and is not an increase that will reverse the impact of many years of budget reductions and flat cash settlements.

"As the Accounts Commission has confirmed, the Scottish Government continues to limit local flexibility with a substantial proportion of funding being directed for specific Scottish Government policies, particularly within health and social care and education services.  This is continued undermining of local democracy.  It is imperative that councils are given full flexibility of funding to deploy in schools and the wider community to best support the diverse needs of children and young people.