Fife Council: key talks as councillors prepare for crunch budget choices early in 2025

The council will be required to set a balanced budget by February 20.

In the lead up to that date, Council Leader David Ross (Labour) said councillors will be having conversations about priorities – despite financial pressures.

“Planning for this budget has been ongoing for a considerable time as we are determined to make sure our future priorities get the funding they need,” he said.

“Our achievements so far show that we are ambitious for Fife and our future investment priorities reflect those ambitions.”

Since 2022, Fife’s Labour and SNP groups have put forward separate, rival budget recommendations, and each year the Labour proposals have been approved with support from Conservative and Lib-Dem councillors.

This year, Fife residents are likely to see more of the same, but Cllr Ross previously said he wished to work with councillors from all political groups to strike an agreement.

“I hope we can have some sensible discussions with all political groups this year and come up with something that actually puts the council on firm and sustainable footing for the future,” he said after the last council meeting in December.

> Budget priorities:

Council tax, council rent rates, funding for social care services, roads and building maintenance, and education are expected to be some of the biggest issues for the new 2025-26 budget.

However, councillors will also need to grapple with significant financial pressures, including rising inflation, the cost of pay awards for staff, increasing costs of health and social care and the implications of national insurance payments.

In September, finance officers estimated that the Kingdom could be looking at a £17m budget gap for 2025/26, and that could rise to £46m by 2027/28.

However, the true scale of the gap will be revealed to councillors imminently once the implications of the Scottish budget are fully understood.

In December, Cllr Ross said the grant settlement from the Scottish Government is a “little better” than expected, but he emphasised that Fife is still facing “significant financial pressures” – particularly on social care, capital spending for roads, building maintenance, and Fife’s vehicle fleet.

“We have been doing everything possible to plan for future financial challenges while continuing to invest in our priorities,” he said.

“Over the past few years we have set a balanced budget and I’m delighted we’ve made real progress on many of our key objectives including fixing Fife’s roads, scrapping charges for bulky uplifts, investing in our local communities and providing more permanent teaching staff in our primary and secondary schools.”

In December, the council said it is committed to continuing investment in the Kingdom’s roads and infrastructure as well as making investments in education and young people in Fife.

“However, every investment decision we make has consequences for other areas of spend, and costs are increasing," Cllr Ross said.

"There are significant demands on our capital spend in the months and years ahead in the face of reduced funding allocations for vital flood defences, education and new build housing."

He added: “There will be difficult decisions to make when we agree on our final budget in February.”

Fife Council is due to set a balanced budget on 20 February 2025 at 10am in the Fife Council chambers in Glenrothes. The agenda should be published about a week in advance for public viewing.