Council facing more years of funding shortfall

A council may need to find savings worth 3% of its budget in future years, as it continues to face "considerable financial pressures".

Cheshire East Council said it is expecting a shortfall of £15m for the 2027/28 financial year - on top of £13.3m of savings already planned for that period.

The cash-strapped authority has faced ongoing financial issues and has been given permission by the government to borrow to fund some of its day-to-day spending for the last three years

But Cheshire East Council said its overspend for the last financial year was lower than originally forecast and a report to be discussed later said the authority needed to plan now for future potential funding gaps.

It said the 2026/27 budget could only be balanced by exceptional financial support (EFS) but this was "not sustainable" and needed to be addressed.

EFS is not extra funding - but it allows councils to treat some day-to-day spending as longer term capital spending, which is usually funded through borrowing.

The current forecast gap of £15.271m for 2027/28 is equal to 3.19% of its expenditure budget, it said.

Meanwhile, the authority has also confirmed its overspend for the last financial year was lower than expected.

It had originally expected to be facing a £22.3m shortfall for the year to 31 March 2026.

But it has now said that it is £18.5m to be funded by EFS.

Cheshire East's cabinet will discuss the two reports into its finances at a meeting later at its headquarters in Crewe.

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