Budget plans for 2026/27 were outlined by Hillingdon Council’s Cabinet last night (Tuesday 23 December) which focus on delivering value for money and sustainability while keeping council tax low for residents.
Despite the ongoing national financial pressures for local authorities, Hillingdon remains a low-cost, low-tax authority, providing some of the highest quality and most efficient services in the capital, with benchmarking showing its cost of services the fourth lowest of all London boroughs*.
The council will keep delivering value for money through its proactive and innovative approach to doing things differently by reviewing service delivery to generate efficiency savings.
The limited good news is that under the government’s new fair funding formula, it is anticipated that there will be a significant increase in the grant the authority receives for the three years from 2026/27 which will help to strengthen the council’s financial position. However, it will not be all received immediately but phased across the three-year period with more than £40 million set to be withheld during the first two years.
In the meantime, the prolonged government underfunding has meant the council has had to enter into discussions with the government regarding receiving Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) to support it until the new funding formula is implemented.
This isn’t unique to Hillingdon. Six other London boroughs are already receiving this, with some requesting it several times, and analysis by London Councils suggests half of London boroughs could require emergency support by 2028.
The council remains committed to keeping council tax low for residents. The proposed budget includes a core council tax increase of 2.99 per cent and a levy of 2 per cent to fund residents’ adult social care. This equates to £1.40 a week for a band D property, with residents continuing to pay amongst the lowest levels of council tax in outer London.
Cllr Eddie Lavery, Hillingdon Council’s Cabinet Member for Finance and Transformation, said: "While we welcome the recognition that Hillingdon needs more funding from 2026/27 to meet residents’ current needs, it doesn’t allow us to ‘get back what has been lost’ nor ensure we have the immediate funding we require.
“We’re still fighting hard to combat the real-time impacts of increasing demand for services and prolonged underfunding. And while this has meant we’ve had to seek EFS, we are also proactively continuing to prioritise the delivery of our savings programme to further cut costs and identify efficiencies while remaining committed to ensuring residents don't pay as much council tax as others.”
Residents and local businesses can provide feedback on the proposed budget until Wednesday 4 February at www.hillingdon.gov.uk/budget-consultation.
*per 100,000 people (Source: Local authority revenue expenditure and financing England: 2024 to 2025 individual local authority data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government)