Every year we set a budget to decide how much money will be spent on services.
Councillors meet to agree how we use our allocated funding, which mainly comes from Council Tax, business rates and the government.
Budget for 2025 to 2026
Full Council met on Thursday 27 February and approved the 2025 to 2026 budget.
You can:
- view the budget papers
- watch a recording of the Full Council meeting
- find out more about the approved budget in our press release.
We are facing large budget pressures like other local councils across the country. This requires tough choices, but we are investing in essential services which care for and support Medway’s most vulnerable residents.
Additional funding
We have been given more than £11million extra in funding from government for 2025 to 2026. This has helped to close the budget gap, but has been taken up by financial pressures on statutory services.
To provide a balanced budget, we requested Exceptional Financial Support from the government. We were awarded this support for a second year. This will allow us to borrow more than £18million in 2025 to 2026 to spread revenue costs over more than one year.
Council Tax
Council Tax will increase by 4.994% for the coming year. Council Tax is used to pay for critical services such as social care, waste collections, housing, highways, libraries and more.
Medway’s Council Tax remains the lowest in Kent and is still some way below the national average.
Independent reviews of our budget
We commissioned independent financial specialists at the end of 2023 to review our financial situation. We did this to find opportunities to:
- reduce costs
- increase income
- improve service delivery.
Read the report produced by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA).
The report recognised that our overspend was unavoidable and mainly driven by rising demand and costs for Children and Adult Services. We were granted Exceptional Financial Support worth up to £14.742million for 2024 to 2025.
We also asked the Local Government Association and Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) to conduct an independent review of finances and use of resources in adult social care.
Read the adult social care finance report.
At the end of 2024, we invited CIPFA to carry out another review to report on progress over the year. We have been granted Exceptional Financial Support again for 2025 to 2026.
Read the CIPFA External Assurance Review.
Financial support for residents
If you’re struggling financially and need help, you can: