Nottinghamshire County Council’s budget shortfall predicted to drop by £2.6m

Nottinghamshire County Council is currently predicting a reduced budget shortfall over the next three years, new figures show.

The Reform-led authority’s cabinet is set to meet on Thursday, November 6, to discuss its updated budget report.

In February this year, the previous Conservative administration approved a funding shortfall of £18.5m over the next three years to the end of the 2028-29 financial year.

These figures are contained in the council’s Medium-Term Financial Strategy, which assesses what areas of financial pressures the authority faces and helps the council set a balanced budget each year.

In next week’s cabinet documents, updated figures show this figure brought down to £15.9m — a £2.6m decrease.

Documents also state there is currently a forecast overspend of £3.1m in the current 2025-26 financial year, stemming from overspends in adult social care and transport and environment services which are “partially offset” by an underspend in another area due to the Business Rates relief grant.

Adult social care continues to be one of the largest pressures on a council’s finances. Budget papers show service demand pressures has increased by £7.28m in the 2026-27 financial year, mainly caused by a projected increase of £4.5m in adult social care which “reflects extensive growth in care package demand”.

The authority says “particular headwinds” are being felt within this department, including pressures from increased complex needs of people who currently have care and support, increasing cost pressures from providers — including the national living wage — and from partners.

Documents say the senior leadership team within this department is currently developing a recovery and redesign plan to make sure they can “deliver an effective service” despite challenges.

Following the government’s autumn statement in November 2025, which will detail areas such as council funding and national living wage increases, the council will update its budget projections in line with this.

The previous Conservative council hiked council tax by 4.84% which is just under the maximum allowed limit.

Reform council leader, Mick Barton, previously told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the amount of council tax residents will pay next year will not be discussed until January.

He said the authority would wait until it knew how much money the Labour Government would give it in its financial settlement, which are awarded each year to councils, with the amount itself revealed in December.

He said: “Council tax, until we know what we are going to get off the Government, then we can’t talk about council tax until January.

“We’ve not heard about the multi-year settlement. It’ll either give us some relief or some more head-scratching to do. I don’t think we will get much relief.”

The Reform-led authority is expected to complete its own efficiency review by the end of 2025 to try cut costs.