October 2025

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Budget consultation opens for 2026/27

Communities across East Lothian are sharing their views on our financial priorities for 2026/27 after the budget consultation launched on 2 October.

The public consultation has been developed to gather opinions on our overall priorities and to gauge views on a range of matters from services to council tax levels. 

A group of cross-party councillors will meet in the months ahead to discuss spending plans for the new financial year before the budget is formally approved at a Council meeting in February 2026.

All staff are encouraged to take part in the budget consultation and share your insights.

Five key themes

Our financial strategy sets out five key themes to address the significant funding gaps our organisation faces - £10.356m in 26/27 rising to £45.911 by 29/30 after planned savings are accounted for. Consultation respondents are asked to set these in order of the priority they should be given:

  • asset rationalisation and energy efficiency – reducing costs by reviewing and rationalising buildings and exploring opportunities to raise income through renewable energy
  • income generation – increasing the income the council receives, including through charges and commercial activity
  • transformation, service redesign and digitalisation – changing how services operate to make them more efficient, including online
  • early intervention and prevention – services that offer earlier support for people to prevent larger/ longer term issues that require expensive interventions
  • service reduction – reducing services to deliver savings

They are also invited to comment on services they believe should be protected or reduced, their views on delivery of services online to save money and put forward their own ideas for efficiencies.

Council tax

One quarter of our council’s total funding comes through council tax and the consultation asks for views on whether a rise would be supported and, if so, at what level. Each 1% increment equates to a weekly increase of 30p for an average property in East Lothian.

The consultation is available online until 12 November at www.eastlothian.gov.uk/council-budget

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