Following a meeting of Full Council on Thursday, 27 February 2025, Medway Council has approved its annual budget for 2025/26.
The approved budget invests in essential services which provide care and support for Medway’s most vulnerable residents.
Ongoing pressures
As with local authorities across the country, Medway Council has had to carefully plan its budget to ensure it can continue to meet the growing cost of providing essential services which residents rely on.
Nearly three quarters of Medway’s budget is used to meet the growing cost of providing support for Medway’s most vulnerable children and adults. This includes services which protect children and adults through social care, support those who are at risk of homelessness and provide services for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Across these three areas alone the council spends more than £1.1million every day.
Investing more in Medway’s services
These costs continue to rise, but to ensure the council can meet the growing demand for help and the increasingly complex support required, Full Council agreed to invest a further £40.339million in its children and adult social care and education services. This includes £17.5million extra funding for Medway’s schools.
Councillors also agreed to invest almost £6.8million more directly into adult social care, another £4.6million into children’s social care, £2million more on SEND and a further £1.7million to provide temporary accommodation for those at risk of homelessness in the next financial year (2025-26).
Medway Council Leader, Cllr Vince Maple, said: “The pressures that local authorities across the country are under is no secret. More and more people need help, and the complexity of the help they require also continues to increase. Although we received a more generous settlement from government for this year, anyone who reads through the papers will see that our services remain extremely stretched.
“I am steadfast in my belief that the steps we have taken in continuing to invest in these essential services are the right ones – we have not only a statutory obligation but a moral duty to ensure we are there to help and support our most vulnerable residents. That is what this budget is about – ensuring we prioritise the resources we have to best support those who are most in need.”
Additional funding
The government’s final settlement in February 2025 provided Medway with more than £11million extra, showing its trust in the authority’s ability to prudently use its allocated funding. Although the additional funding helped to close the gap considerably, it has been more than absorbed by the mounting financial pressures on the services we are required to provide statutorily by government.
In order to deliver a balanced budget, it was necessary for the council to request Exceptional Financial Support from the government for a second year and Medway was one of 30 councils awarded this support this year. This will allow us to borrow more than £18million in 2025/26 to spread revenue costs over more than one year.
Council tax
It was also agreed at Full Council to increase council tax 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 much more.
Medway’s council tax remains the lowest in Kent and is still some way below the national average, despite this increase.
This equates to an increase of £1.68 per week for a Band D property, to a total of £1,842.32 per year (excluding amounts charged by parish councils, the Kent Police and Crime Commissioner and Kent Fire and Rescue Service).
Cllr Maple added: “No one would want to take the decision to increase council tax, however, we were left with no choice. It is not a decision we have taken lightly, but without this increase we would not have been able to deliver a balanced budget.
“Even with this increase Medway’s council tax remains the lowest in Kent, however, we know all too well the financial struggles many families already face. There is support out there, including our council tax reduction scheme and the household support fund, and I would urge residents to check whether they are eligible.”
VE and VJ Day
This year marks the 80th anniversary of both Victory in Europe and Victory over Japan Day.
In the autumn budget, the government announced it would be providing funding to commemorate the anniversaries, to remember those who have lost their lives.
Cllr Maple commented: “The reason Medway is my home is because of my dad’s service in the Royal Navy. We are all proud of Medway’s strong military history and relationship with the Armed Forces family, so ensuring our residents have the opportunity to mark these historic anniversaries is important to us. We will be announcing more details shortly, so keep an eye out for updates in the near future.”
You can read Medway’s budget papers for 2025/26 on our website.