06:04PM, Wednesday 25 February 2026
York House, Windsor
The chief executive of Windsor and Maidenhead council has said the authority is in an ‘absolutely perverse’ position as it needs to borrow more to cover Government cuts.
Demand-led services such as temporary accommodation and adult social care have been putting pressure on the cash-strapped Royal Borough.
But the Government’s Fair Funding Review 2.0 reforms, which aim to direct more funding to deprived areas in the country, also mean that the council will be £30million ‘worse off’, a report said.
At a York House cabinet meeting yesterday (Tuesday), councillors heard that the Government has approved the Royal Borough’s request for £48.75million of Exceptional Financial Support – meaning it can borrow money to cover its day-to-day spending.
The council’s chief executive, Stephen Evans, said: “We’re now being forced to increase borrowing to deal with the impact of these Government cuts.
“This is a perverse position, it’s absolutely perverse because on one hand Government is cutting our funding whilst on the other hand it’s giving us permission to borrow more to cover those cuts, borrowing which only worsens our financial position.”
According to a report which was presented to the cabinet, the budget gap is set to rise to £103million by 2030/31, with council tax ‘set to become almost the only source of funding’.
The council’s lead member for finance, Cllr Lynne Jones (Ind, Old Windsor) said council tax will account for 96 per cent of the council’s funding by 2030/31 as other sources diminish. It currently provides three quarters of the council’s funding.
“The scale of the budget gap, the legacy of disastrous financial decisions made in the past and the Government’s recent Fair Funding curveball make it inevitable that we will continue to need support, unless the Government acknowledges that they cannot expect a council to be funded purely by council tax alone,” Cllr Jones said.
Rachel Howard, the council’s executive director of resources, reassured councillors that the Royal Borough’s reserves are ‘currently sufficient’ but that they would need to be kept ‘under review’.
The draft budget includes savings of £6.4million for the next financial year.
The Government has given the Royal Borough permission to increase council tax above the 4.99 per cent threshold, by up to 7.49 per cent in 2026/27.
No referendum principles will be applied for the following two financial years after the Government provided further ‘flexibility’ – meaning the council could again increase council tax above the threshold without a public vote.
So, the medium-term financial plan also assumes a further 10 per cent council tax increase will follow in 2027/28 and a 4.99 per cent increase in 2028/29, according to the report.
Ms Howard said no final decisions are being taken around the council tax thresholds for those later years yet.
The next administration, elected in May 2027, will make a decision around council tax in the 2028/29 financial year, the report added.
But Ms Howard said: “I must be clear that decisions will need to be taken in those two [financial years] to utilise that flexibility grant [from the Government] to get council tax to the national average level no matter how difficult those decisions might be.
“The decisions on council tax are the only decisions that can be taken that will make such a substantial reduction in the need for EFS and the associated costs of financing it.”
Resident Andrew Hill said Mr Evan’s comments that the council’s financial position is ‘perverse’, along with the rising debt and planned council tax increases, are all ‘legal arguments’ that can be put to the Government.
But Mr Evans explained that other councils have tried to put forward legal challenges to the Government, and they have not got an outcome, with 37 other councils reliant on EFS.
“We don’t have the money to spend on spurious legal challenges. We have to continue to control what we can control and lobby for change,” he said.
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