Budget to protect frontline services and deliver Swindon Plan priorities outlined

At next Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, councillors will consider a proposed £233m budget for 2026/27, focused on building a fairer, better and greener Swindon, while progressing the Swindon 2028 transformation programme to put the Council on a pathway to greater financial sustainability.

More than 80 per cent of the Council’s revenue budget will be spent on statutory adult and children’s social care. This reflects increasing demand, especially in Children’s Services, where the average cost of a placement is around £7,300 per week, approximately £380,000 per year. In addition to this, £3.5m of new investment has been included to increase social worker capacity.

The budget protects frontline services that residents rely on such as road maintenance, waste and recycling, fly-tipping enforcement, libraries, parks and open spaces. Along with this, the Council received a welcome boost last month with the Government announcing additional capital funding over the next four years from 2026/27 for repairing roads.

The new Local Government Finance Settlement will see the Council receive an extra £13.7m in funding over the next three years, due to the Government’s Fair Funding Review, starting with a £5.2m increase in 2026/26 to take total core funding to £91.2m.

The Council faces £33m of additional costs in 2026/27, around 65 per cent (£21.5m) of which relates to demand costs associated with adults’ and children’s services.

After factoring in £12.2m in planned organisational savings, the Council is forecasting a £22.3m budget gap in 2026/27, a 20 per cent improvement following the announcement of the extra funding from the Government.

In order to meet its statutory duty to set a balanced budget in 2026/27, the Council has applied to the Government for flexibility to use capital funding sources to support the revenue budget.

Meanwhile, the 2026/27 financial year will be a pivotal one for the Council as it re-engineers how it operates to better serve communities and stay within its financial means. The Council will continue to progress the Swindon 2028 transformation programme, which includes the aim to move to a prevention first operating model – supporting residents earlier, reducing avoidable crisis demand and enabling more joined up working across partners and communities.

This will include the rollout of a network of new community hubs that will give residents easy, in-person access to advice, guidance and support under one roof from council staff and partner organisations. The concept will be tested with the launch of four prototype hubs in 2026, ahead of full implementation in 2027.

Councillor Kevin Small, Cabinet Member for Finance, said: “This budget protects frontline services for residents while continuing to invest in Swindon’s future.

“Like local authorities up and down the country, we face acute financial pressures, particularly in social care, but we are doing everything in our control to mitigate this. We’re also progressing an ambitious and bold transformation programme that will fundamentally re-engineer how the organisation operates, to support residents earlier, reduce avoidable crisis demand and enable more joined-up working across services, partners and communities.

“We fully understand the challenges we face and have a clear plan to ensure Swindon remains financially sustainable, while continuing to support our residents, communities and the services they expect from their council.”

The budget proposals will be considered by Cabinet on 4 February before being recommended to Full Council for approval later this month.