A stark warning has been issued over the bleak financial future of the Isle of Wight Council, with a warning that ‘some extremely difficult decisions’ will be required.
It’s said that action will need to be taken to address a funding gap which could reach over £60million in a few years’ time, according to a senior officer.
In a bleak update at County Hall on Thursday (9th July), deputy chief financial officer Adam Richens pointed to a graph forecasting a growing structural deficit for the local authority which he said he ‘saw a lot’ during the ‘austerity years’ of the last decade.
He referred to 3 main drivers of the shortfall: the rapidly escalating costs of adult social care, the doubling in cost of the council’s waste contract and cuts in government funding which will get ‘significantly worse’ in the following 2 years.
Presenting the graph to the policy, finance and resources committee, Mr Richens said:
“That (funding) gap is £20 million for 2026/27. It will double in the next year to £40 million if we leave it unchecked.
“It will then grow over the three-year period so by the time you get to 2029/30, you have a structural deficit of £66 million.
“I’ve been a Section 151 officer for quite a number of years and I saw that graph a lot with regards to expenditure going up but funding going down, staying the same, during the austerity years.
Article continues below this advertisement “That was a common graph that was presented up and down the country with regards to the impact of austerity.”
He said the council is ‘back into that position’ in terms of the future, left unchecked.
The officer continued that given the structural deficit, County Hall ‘rightly’ applied to government for Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) which he claimed was the ‘only way’ to set a ‘responsible and lawful’ budget for 2026/27.
EFS gives councils government permission to use capital budgets, borrowing or asset sales to fund day-to-day spending, according to the Institute for Government.
Mr Richens said the EFS process is akin to an ‘emergency government bailout’ and that Whitehall has given the Isle of Wight Council an in-principle decision for £12.9 million of EFS in 2026/27 only.
The EFS will only be drawn upon if necessary. He emphasised that the facility amounts to borrowing which would need to be repaid, including interest, and is not a government grant.
Current council forecasts show potential EFS borrowing of £175.3million over a four-year period from 2026/27.
Whitehall expects the council to take ‘all reasonable steps’ to manage financial pressures locally and develop a ‘clear’ service improvements and transformation plan to assist a return to financial stability, Mr Richens said.
He said an independent chair has been sourced for a Transformation and Improvement Board.
Moving to next steps, the officer gave 3 pieces of advice: management must be within the budget County Hall set for 2026/27, all reasonable steps must be taken to reduce the £12.9million EFS debt due to be taken out for 2026/27 and address the underlying structural deficit which for 2027/28 is £39.7million.
Has anyone else noticed this seems to be the same story every year with the same headline. We will have the same targets- put up parking fees, put up council tax etc. Joe Public do not have bottomless pockets for all the continuing rises. Try ticketing people that park in the wrong places or against the traffic flow- the amount of that happening will be a start!
GOOD POINT ABOUT PARKING AGAINST THE TRAFFIC FLOW
” YOU HONESTLY DON’T THINK THAT THE STUOID B’STARDS ON YHE ISLAND ARE AWARE OF THAT RULE”
THESE NUMPTIES STILL LET VEHICLES DRIVE AROUND FOR MONTHS WITH NO MOT
THERE’S A NUMPTY IN RYDE DRIVING EVERYDAY WITH NO MOT
NEARLY 3 MONTHS NOW
THE AUTHORITIES COULDN’T CATCH A COLD YET ALONE AN ILLEGAL MOTORIST
So many numpties park in wrong places
Eg
Zig Zags
Double Yellow Lines
Pavements
SOME EVEN PARK FREE OF CHARGE EVERYDAY ON THE
PAVEMENT OUTSIDE THE OLD TOURIST INFORMATION CENTRE OPPOSITE SANDOWN PIER AND FUCK ALL GETS DONE ABOUT IT!
And then the Council get the violin out pleading poverty.
MY ADVIDE TO THE CLUELESS NUMPTIES IS TO REDUCE
THE WORKFORCE, MANY OF WHO SEEM TO TURN A BLIND
EYE TO ILLEGAL PARKING.
HOW MANY COUNCIL EMPLOYEES ARE “”STILL” SHIRKING FROM
HOME SINCE THE PANDEMIC!
STOP FULL SICK PAY, STOP PAY RISES.
AND ROLL OUT ISLANDWIDE PARKING PERMITS
SOME HOUSEHOLDS HAVE 4 OR MORE VEHICLES AND
TAKE UP SPACES FOR OTHER PEOPLE WHO NEED TO PARK THEIR VEHICLES WHEN RETURNIG HOME FROM WORK.
IF EVERYONE HAD TO PAY FOR A SPACE THEY MAY REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF VEHICLES THEY HAVE.
ALSO DUE TO SIZES OF VEHICLES SOME TAKE UP 2 SPACES IN
CAR PARKS AND ONLY PAY 1 CHARGE.
I would have the island re-names Lawless Isle of Joke
GOOD POINT ABOUT PARKING AGAINST THE TRAFFIC FLOW
” YOU HONESTLY DON’T THINK THAT THE STUOID B’STARDS ON YHE ISLAND ARE AWARE OF THAT RULE”
THESE NUMPTIES STILL LET VEHICLES DRIVE AROUND FOR MONTHS WITH NO MOT
THERE’S A NUMPTY IN RYDE DRIVING EVERYDAY WITH NO MOT
NEARLY 3 MONTHS NOW
THE AUTHORITIES COULDN’T CATCH A COLD YET ALONE AN ILLEGAL MOTORIST
So many numpties park in wrong places
Eg
Zig Zags
Double Yellow Lines
Pavements
SOME EVEN PARK FREE OF CHARGE EVERYDAY ON THE
PAVEMENT OUTSIDE THE OLD TOURIST INFORMATION CENTRE OPPOSITE SANDOWN PIER AND FUCK ALL GETS DONE ABOUT IT!
And then the Council get the violin out pleading poverty.
MY ADVIDE TO THE CLUELESS NUMPTIES IS TO REDUCE
THE WORKFORCE, MANY OF WHO SEEM TO TURN A BLIND
EYE TO ILLEGAL PARKING.
HOW MANY COUNCIL EMPLOYEES ARE “”STILL” SHIRKING FROM
HOME SINCE THE PANDEMIC!
STOP FULL SICK PAY, STOP PAY RISES.
AND ROLL OUT ISLANDWIDE PARKING PERMITS
SOME HOUSEHOLDS HAVE 4 OR MORE VEHICLES AND
TAKE UP SPACES FOR OTHER PEOPLE WHO NEED TO PARK THEIR VEHICLES WHEN RETURNIG HOME FROM WORK.
IF EVERYONE HAD TO PAY FOR A SPACE THEY MAY REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF VEHICLES THEY HAVE.
ALSO DUE TO SIZES OF VEHICLES SOME TAKE UP 2 SPACES IN
CAR PARKS AND ONLY PAY 1 CHARGE.
Off out to walk the dog on the beach before some Numpty
says you can’t when you can on the beach I am going to.
Lol
Stop funding for SEND taxis and transport, make the parents of the precious pay for it, Stop funding people for anxiety and all the other stupid mild so called mental health issues. Stop funding benefit scroungers. Then they might have a bit more money to play with, DO NOT punish hard working people any more.
One thing Councils are good at
WASTING our hard earned cash!
Stop wasting money on floating bridge
stop giving yourselves pay rises,i havent had one in years!
stop over inflated salaries for high up council workers
the rot should start at county hall,but it wont,us minions will end up picking up the tab,higher council tax,etc,the list goes on.
Very true.
giving out money to parents of SEN kids for taxis, funding illegal immigrants in hotels, paying out money to illegals in benefits being relocated here instead of being deported, handing out money in benefits to every other sob story going – how about you cut spending on these freeloaders instead of simply saying we have a deficit – meaning what we want to spend, to suit our woke agenda doesn’t fit the budget given
Oh diddums join the rest of us ..we are all broke.
That’s their plan.
Universal Basic Income coming soon.
When nearly one tenth of the island workforce works for the council you know there are issues that needs addressing.
Government employ the majority of people
quite a clever system.
Tax payers pay for the service too.
This council failed to collect 24 million pounds council tax, in one year.
So a structural deficit, of there own making.
As usual. this negligence will be covered by ripping off those who pay there way. Rather than sacking the well paid finance director overseeing this debacle.
Back in the good old days persons not paying their Council tax
went inside.
Strong deterrent are needed.
Stop all those pool cars and buying in consultants when you are being paid to make decisions. That would be a start!!
We have heard for years about the scandal of the waste of money by the IW Council on the Floating Bridge especially the failings of their contracting elements, but when will the Council be held to account over the recent Waste Contract ? The Council made a statement last year that the incumbent contractor “walked away” from the multi million, multi year contract and that now the new contractor is charging twice as much at such short notice.
Nobody “walks away” from a contract without serious financial penalties being imposed, yet the Council contracting department has not been held accountable for any failings in their contract to impose such penalties that are now causing serious financial issues for the Island taxpayers.
No surprise here, most of the island residents are on some form of council tax relief. That’s the problem with a low wage economy, until that can be fixed people will require tax relief.
2 jobs then, cannot keep dishing out benefits to everyone.
Same old same old,happens every year!
Let’s make cuts where it will make a difference, get rid of two thirds of the councillors, they are inadequate and not git for purpose. The remaining one third cut their so called expenses by 75%.
Now the budget is starting to look a lot brighter.
Make it even better by sorting Island Roads out.
You are spot on, but persons on the island don’t
like hearing the truth
I LOVE HEARING THE TRUTH – YOU SHOULD BE KNIGHTED
FOR SUCH.
Will your plans make the budget “a lot brighter”? Let’s do the maths.
The total amount spent on councillor allowances is around £560,000 a year.
Total spending is around £250 million. So councillor allowances are 0.22% of the total council budget.
The projected budget deficit will be £66 million by 2030. So councillor allowances would be around 0.66% of the deficit.
Let’s say you scrap 2/3 of the councillors and reduce the remaining councillor’s allowances by 75%. That would reduce annual spending down to £297,000. Saving you £265,000 a year roughly. So you reduce the deficit by about 0.4% but you would still have to find £65.735 million.
So… not really touching the sides. I wouldn’t really say that the budget would be looking “a lot brighter”. Not to mention that cutting 2/3rds of councillors requires merging wards so you go from 39 wards to 13 wards.
Not one of the comments under this article is talking about the real issues. The elephant in the room that no one wants to think about. We have a perfect storm of an aging population, reduced funding from successive governments that are fundamentally disinterested in coastal populations and a social care system that cripples councils up and down the country. You can tweak around at the edges, increase parking charges or cut staff but no amount of tweaking is going to fix it.
Thank god for that…intelligent commentary. It’s a waste of breath though…most on here wouldn’t understand a word you’ve said. They seem to be stuck in a loop of blame the council/immigrants/benefit claimants and ignore what’s also happening in every other part of the UK.
Try not giving yourselves any payrise this year. I’m sure you could all live on your ‘expenses’
Expenses should be capped
They already are capped. This is publicly available information published on the council website annually.
Don’t believe everything you read.
Remember the £350,000,000.00 Brexit Bus
B@llocks.
Oh, so like reducing a £200 shopping bill by not buying a packet of salt? Yeah, that’ll be the answer.
The National Audit Office has been unable to sign off the governments accounts three consecutive years due to massive delays and unaudited submissions from hundreds of English local councils.
This one of the governments famous ‘black holes” to the tune of £85 billion missing.
Let hazard a guess that the IoW council is one of those that submitted an unaudited and delayed account.
It`s only austerity for us…. I would stop all welfare payments to foreign nationals, certainly stop massive salaries for DEI hires also provide core services to working people as a priority….. we end up paying for everything and everyone.