Slough cabinet backs 'really really strong' budget changes after initial plans were voted against

The leader of Slough Borough Council said he has ‘taken time to reflect’ on the local authority’s budget after councillors rejected the borough’s initial proposals for the next financial year.

Revised budget papers for 2026/27 and the medium-term financial plan through to 2028/29 are due to be presented to councillors once again at a full council meeting tonight (Thursday).

This comes after councillors voted against the initial budget last week – with 16 votes in favour, 19 against and two abstentions.

Labour councillors said Slough was ‘choosing to balance its budget on the backs of residents’ including the ‘most vulnerable’, with doubts that proposed savings will be delivered.

The latest budget report still includes savings of £15.45million for 2026/27, expected to grow to £37million by 2028/29.

The savings for 2026/27 will be ‘depleted’ by overspends from the current financial year, however, the report added.

Liberal Democrat councillor Sabia Akram said last week that the council was being asked to support a budget built on ‘shaky evidence and weak leadership’.

At a special cabinet meeting yesterday (Wednesday), council leader Dexter Smith said he has ‘taken time to reflect’ on the comments made by the opposition.

“Our shared responsibility must always be to act in the best interest of the residents across Slough and that is exactly what these proposals seek to do,” he said.

After looking into where changes would ‘reasonably and responsibly be accommodated’, three amendments were put forward and unanimously approved.

These include plans to increase Slough’s council tax hardship fund, which vulnerable residents can apply for, by £100,000.

Cllr Smith (Con, Colnbrook and Poyle) said: “Whilst the council tax support scheme cannot be amended at this stage due to statutory requirements around setting the council tax base, we are able to strengthen the council’s council tax hardship fund.”

The Council Tax Support Scheme (CTS) will offer a maximum council tax discount for non-working residents of 70 per cent from April, reduced from 80 per cent in the current financial year.

A 20 per cent reduction in the other discounts for working households, depending on income bands will also be put in place. Pensioners will not be affected by the changes.

The hardship fund will be available to address this reduced support.

The council’s drug and alcohol treatment budget will also be increased by £36,000 – keeping the fund at its 2025/26 levels.

The budget available for scrutiny – where councillors are able to scrutinise council matters before these are voted on – will also be increased by up to £50,000.

But at last week’s full council meeting, opposition councillors also raised questions about the special responsibility allowances paid to councillors.

Slough’s special allowance scheme was agreed in 2023 after recommendations from an independent panel, and changes to this would not be made ‘on the hoof’, Cllr Smith said.

Last week, suggestions were put forward to let out the top floors of Observatory House for an additional income stream.

But this ‘cannot realistically be implemented at this stage’, the leader added, with the space currently used for storage and by Slough Children First, the council’s children’s services company.

Councillors unanimously backed the three amendments proposed.

The meeting heard this was ‘the best way to move forward’, with the amendments making the budget ‘strong and transparent’.

Cllr Wal Chahal (Con, Langley Marish) said ‘a lot of hard and collaborative work’ has gone on within the council and he was ‘pleased’ with the changes.

“I think these three changes are really, really strong and I’m sure they will be well received by our residents and also by our own members,” he said.

But the agreed changes, alongside the 2026/27 full budget and medium-term plan, still need to be approved at a full council meeting which is set to take place tonight (Thursday).