Fife Council sets budget for 2025/26

Fife Council has set its budget for 2025/26 and agreed much needed investment of almost £10m in health and social care and over £9m to fix Fife’s roads over the next three years.

A council tax rise of 8.2% will help to pay for these investments across the Kingdom and bridge a budget gap of over £5m.

Council Leader David Ross explains: “We have to strike a balance between making savings, raising council tax and continuing essential investment in our services for local people.

“Fife’s health and social care partnership is facing huge financial challenges and urgent investment is needed alongside our partners NHS Fife. We have to make sure that those in most need have the right care and support.

“We are also continuing to invest in maintaining and improving Fife’s roads. An additional £9m will be invested over the next three years.

“The challenging financial landscape and the fact that we had to freeze council tax last year meant, this year, we were considering council tax increases of almost 10%. However, recognising the impact this would have on Fifers, with some careful financial management we have brought this down to 8.2% for this financial year with potential rises of 5% for the next two years.”

The council is also investing in:

• Education: the budget for education will rise to £457m, £22.6m more than last year with a commitment to transform learning through one to one devices for every pupil in P6-S6. Teacher numbers will be maintained in agreement with the Scottish Government and COSLA and the council will continue to invest in support for children with additional needs. Work will also continue to address issues of behaviour and attendance in schools.
• Fleet: following on from an investment of £5m last year when the council purchased 116 new vehicles including gulley tankers, tar hotbox vehicles and JCBs, a further £10.5m will be spent over the next three years on replacing essential fleet.
• Flooding: £19.5m is committed for flooding schemes across Fife over the next ten years and design work is underway on others so that the council is in the best position possible to bid for Scottish Government funding when it becomes available.
• Future of leisure: over £13m is earmarked for new pool and leisure facilities in West Fife following the closure of Woodmill and Inverkeithing high schools

The council is working to sustain a stable budget for the next three years. Council services will be going through transformation programmes to improve and change the way some services are delivered and reduce costs:

• “No Wrong Door” will focus on early intervention and prevention for those in need including children, families and justice services.
• Digital transformation will make use of modern technology to improve services.
• The Place programme will help services join up and co-ordinate better to focus on local areas
• The introduction of digital learning technology in the classroom for teachers and pupils will transform learning in schools

Cllr Ross continued: “We have had to make some tough choices and we’ll continue to make savings. Our ambitious 10 year capital plan which funds major projects and maintains assets including roads, schools and other buildings will continue to be reviewed as costs are still rising. We’ll have to cut back on some planned projects but overall we'll continue to invest over £870m over the next 10 years in the Kingdom's infrastructure.

"There’s no doubt that we are continuing to operate in a time of real financial uncertainty but we believe the budget we’ve set today strikes the best balance between making budget savings and increasing council tax to sustain and improve services over the next three years.”

Based on a Band D property the council tax increase will be £113.58 from £1,385.18 in 2024/25 to £1,498.76 in 2025/26. For those paying their bill over 12 months the increase will be £9.47 per month.

Full committee papers here: Agenda and Papers - Fife Council of 20 February 2025