A 2.99 per cent council tax rise has been proposed for Gedling borough residents to help the authority ‘ensure financial sustainability’.
The increase was approved by Gedling Borough Council’s cabinet in a meeting on Thursday (19).
For the 2026/27 financial year, beginning on April 1, council tax for the borough is planned to increase by 2.99 per cent, which is £5.82 more a year for a Band D property. Around half of council tax payers in Gedling borough live in Band A or Band B properties.
With the rise, Band A properties will pay £3.86 more a year, with Band B paying £4.51, Band C paying £5.15, Band D paying £5.82, Band E paying £7.08, Band F paying £8.37, Band G paying £9.65 and Band H properties paying £11.58.
The final local government settlement – detailing how much funding councils will receive – was announced on February 9 by the Labour Government and is the first multi-year settlement in a decade, covering the period between the 2026/27 and 2028/29 financial years.
Speaking at Thursday’s meeting, finance officer Tina Adams described it as “like wading through treacle” due to changes to funding formulas.
The council’s increase in core spending power – money available for councils to fund their services- has risen by 6.4 per cent for 2026/27 compared to the current financial year but Ms Adams stated: “Whilst this is an increase, a number of grants previously received have been rolled into this new calculation.”
The final settlement also brought “significant changes” to business rates pooling, an area where Gedling is projecting funding losses in the hundreds of thousands in 2027/28 and 2028/29.
The council is expecting “quite a lot of pressures” in 2026/27, including a reduction in investment income by £300,000 due to falling interest rates, an ongoing £100,000 cost for local government reorganisation and a £250,000 budget for a food waste collections pilot scheme.
It also needs to find around £2.53 million in savings “in the next few years” as part of its money-saving programme.
Despite these challenges, the council is still expecting financial sustainability over the next few years.
Ms Adams said to councillors: “I am duly advising cabinet the estimates are sufficiently robust and we do have a level of reserves forecast for March 2027 which I professionally consider to be adequate to ensure financial sustainability while still recognising the increasing risk we are currently facing over the medium term.”
Cllr David Ellis (Lab) said: “I think [officers] described it as wading through treacle – I think it’s more smoke and mirrors than treacle, trying to make sense of any of this.
“The only bottom line is austerity continues. Whatever extra money is available is going to upper-tier authorities for roads, social care and SEND, not for services we provide.
“We’ve still got a robust financial position which is bottom line for us.”
While not bound by any regulations, many councils, including Middlesborough and Nottingham, consider 7.5 per cent of the authority’s entire revenue budget to be a good amount of reserves. Gedling’s council has the same goal.
This money is kept for unforeseen costs and emergencies and for Gedling this figure would be £1.26 million in 2026/27.
But the authority is projected to exceed this in 2026/27 at £5.72 million, meaning it has a surplus of £4.46 million as usable, spare money.
This surplus sits at £2.57 million in 2027/28 and just under £500,000 in 2028/29.
