Response from Councillor Martin Rooney, leader of West Dunbartonshire Council, to Alexandria CC’s concerns about West Dunbartonshire Council budget 2026/27
As you know, West Dunbartonshire Council continues to be underfunded by the Scottish Government and this means we do not have enough funding to maintain the same level of services for this year as we have last year. As a result, we have to take a number of difficult decisions to balance the budget and protect services and jobs as best we can without placing too much of a burden on council tax payers.
The financial context set out below shows that the current UK Government has provided significant uplifts in funding since July 2024. In addition, the Chancellors Spring Statement this week committed a further £921m, for Scotland and this is additional money that could be shared with local government to support our schools, our social care, and our local services.
The Spring Statement from the Chancelor confirmed that borrowing is coming down, inflation is coming down and our economy is growing. That’s good news for Scotland and good news for the whole of the UK. As a result, the current UK Government has now committed almost £12 billion extra for Scotland since they were elected in July 2024.
The UK Government said its budget, set in November 2025, “takes the fair and necessary choices to deliver on the government’s promise of change”, by cutting the cost of living, reducing the NHS waiting list in England and decreasing debt and borrowing. It further highlights that “the [UK] Government’s plans are underpinned by its non-negotiable fiscal rules which provide credibility by ensuring day-to-day spending is met with revenues, while allowing the step change needed in investment to grow the economy”.
Key spending announcements in the UK Budget 2025 include:
Removal of the two-child benefit cap lifting 450,000 children out of poverty. Around 95,000 of these are children in Scotland. Around 60% of families affected are in employment. This has led to the biggest reduction in child poverty this century. Combined with other measures this lifts 550,000 children out of poverty in the UK.
Fuel levy changes save all households £150 on their energy bills. The Warm Homes Discount means another £150 saving for low-income households.
An increase in the Universal Credit Standard Allowance by 6.1% was the first ever permanent real terms increase directly benefitting 540,000 households in Scotland.
A commitment to keep the triple lock will mean 1.1million pensioners will receive a 4.8% uplift to their state pension.
Extending the fuel duty freeze helps the average driver to save £89 per year.
Wages are up more in the first year of the UK Government than the first decade under the previous UK Government. Building on the April 2025 increases, the National Living Wage (ages 21+) was increased from £12.21 to £12.71 per hour - £900 a year pay rise for low paid workers.
The National Minimum Wage for 18–20-year-olds will rise from £10.00 to £10.85 per hour - a boost of £1,500 a year, with the National Minimum Wage for apprentices increased by 6% to £8.00 per hour. These changes represent a continued effort to raise earnings for lower-paid workers, with the strongest proportional increases occurring among younger workers and apprentices. These measures help 220,000 workers in Scotland.
Decisions taken in the UK Autumn Budget have led to additional consequential funding for the Scottish Government of £510 million in resource funding over the next four years and an extra £310 million in capital funding over five years.
The UK budget also delivered an extra £820m of Barnet Consequentials for Scotland and since the General Election the UK Government has provided £10 billion of additional funding for Scotland.
The total funding available to the Scottish Government is forecast to be £61,677 million in 2026-27, an increase of 1.3% in real terms from 2025-26 (an above inflation increase). The funding outlook is forecast to grow on average by 0.8% in real terms in each year of the forecast period up to 2030-31 (an above inflation increases).
The 2026/27 Scottish Budget is accompanied by a three-year Scottish Spending Review, which the Scottish Government states, sets “a clear financial trajectory for public spending, underpinned by £1.5 billion in planned efficiencies and reforms that will protect investment in frontline services”.
The Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) has warned that “the Scottish Government will face significant challenges funding devolved public services in the future, particularly over the next twenty-five years … because the population in Scotland will age earlier than in the rest of the UK”. They project that Scottish devolved public spending would have to be reduced by 4.1% on average each year compared to projected spending to balance the budget. This is equivalent to £4.6 billion.
While the Scottish Government has said local government funding has increased in real-terms by 2%, the SFC highlights that this figure is actually 0.4% once all regular in-year transfers are baselined.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies, which provides critical analysis on the Scottish Budget said, “the Budget document continues to bury the most appropriate spending figures in an annexe, with the main body including figures for this year and next that just cannot be meaningfully compared – a recipe for confusion”. This, it argues, “isn’t good enough – especially in an election year, when the electorate deserve a clear picture of how tax and spending are changing”.
The Scottish Government continues to underfund Local Government and Social Care in Scotland which means that more responsibility for funding public services is falling onto local residents. It is a matter for the Scottish Parliament to decide how to spend the extra revenue and capital and it’s disappointing that Local Government will not get a fair share of much-needed resources to support vital Council services, such as social care services, education, roads, housing, and sports and leisure. The Scottish Government has completely undermined and hampered our efforts to address homelessness and to achieve financial sustainability. They ignored our calls to do the right thing and use this additional funding to ensure that hard-pressed public bodies like West Dunbartonshire Council can continue to offer vital services to the communities they serve.
The Scottish Government draft budget represents an extremely poor settlement for local government in Scotland and means real terms cuts for councils. The most alarming elements of the Scottish Government budget are:
Councils facing a £528 million budget gap in 2026/27, alongside rising demand, inflationary pressures, and continuing pay awards.
Despite £750m of additional funding needed for social care, this has not materialised and will affect our communities and shared national priorities.
Flat cash over the medium-term - with no inflationary uplift - meaning high demand core council services are at risk.
The Scottish Government has deprioritised local government with our share of the Scottish Budget reducing from 26.4% down to 24.8%.
Capital funding is also facing a real-terms cut and will impact on our ability to decarbonise our infrastructure to meet net zero targets.
COUNCILLOR MARTIN ROONEY, BSC.HONS
LEADER WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE COUNCIL
