Councils across the country face an unprecedented financial emergency. Year on year budget cuts paired with an increase in the demand for services has created a precarious situation. This means that the cost of delivering services is more than the money we have available.
According to the Local Government Finance Act 1992, we are legally required to balance our books each year. If we cannot do this, then this puts our services at risk and can force us to file for a Section 114 notice.
In North Somerset we face more than a £11m gap in funding for the current year. We have been working hard to find savings, transform our services and make efficiencies to close this gap. However demand and costs for our services continue to increase.
Unfortunately, this is an ongoing situation. As we enter into 2026/27, we will still be in a position where there is not enough income or funding from national government to meet service demand. Our forecast budget gap for 2026/27 has now risen to £25.9 million—more than double earlier projections.
The government recently ran a Fair Funding Review. This was intended to create a fairer system for allocating funding to local authorities. Instead it will entrench historic inequalities and impose significant financial challenges on councils like North Somerset. Current forecasts suggest North Somerset could lose more than £17 million in government funding – a cut of nearly 20 per cent.
This situation means that our financial emergency will continue to grow. According to our current forecasts, we need to make over £48m in savings across the next three years.
We are doing all that we can to make savings and avoid a Section 114 in North Somerset. But there is only so far we can go.
We are urging the central government to
With no change in how we’re funded or more control over how we raise and use funds, our financial pressures will continue to grow.
We have undertaken a number of measures to help us balance the budget:
The Leader of North Somerset Council Cllr Mike Bell wrote to the Chancellor in October 2025 urging national reform and fair funding to protect essential local services and the people who rely on them. Government proposals published in June 2025 would cut North Somerset’s core funding by nearly 20 per cent. That’s £17.4 million less for local services, from social care to community safety. In the letter addressed to The Right Hon Rachel Reeves MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Cllr Mike Bell responded to the government’s budget consultation.