This was widely recognised as one of the most challenging budgets the council has ever had to set with a £15.7 million funding gap.

Following last year’s council tax freeze, elected members agreed to raise Council Tax by 7% from April.

Councillor Christina Larsen, cabinet member for finance and procurement, said this is one of the lowest council tax increases approved in Scotland and reflects the determination to minimise any rises while protecting services.

Councillor Larsen added: “No-one wants to increase council tax but we have seen across the country that councils have little option but to approve increases, in some cases by as much as 10%. The alternative to council tax rises would see a damaging impact to vital council services which so many people rely on. Despite the additional funding we have received, we still face serious financial challenges such as the new National Insurance contributions, increasing pressures in energy costs, inflation and wages, and an increasing demand on services such as health and social care and education. The 7% increase ensures that we can continue to deliver vital services for every part of North Ayrshire, especially our most vulnerable residents, while minimising the increase as much as possible.”

Elected members approved a £459m budget which had a clear focus on measures to help residents while maintaining frontline services and protecting jobs.

The budget includes proposals for further investment of £1m in 2025/26 across our roads infrastructure as well as additional funding of £250,000 in the Streetscene service.

In addition, £300,000 will be invested into a proposal to create a wellbeing enterprise hub at the Greenwood Conference Centre.

Following an extensive community engagement exercise held late last year, a number of potential savings were not brought forward to the Budget meeting, such as the introduction of car parking charges, closure of Arran Outdoor Education Centre, and the closure of a number of libraries. Elected members also agreed not to move forward with proposed savings at Eglinton Country Park.

For 2025/26, the council received a £7.254m increase in core grant funding from the Scottish Government, worth about 2.05% of its overall Budget.

A large proportion of the increase was consumed by the UK-wide increase in employer National Insurance. Funding from the Scottish Government will cover 60% of the extra costs but the council will have to fund the shortfall of approximately £2.65m.

This extra financial burden is one of the reasons why North Ayrshire Council faced a funding gap of around £15.7m for 2025/26. This is being managed in a number of ways, such as using about £4m in reserves, income from a Council Tax premium on second homes, and savings across council services.

It is anticipated that the equivalent of 45.2 full-time posts will be removed. North Ayrshire Council has a policy of no compulsory redundancies, therefore it is anticipated that this will be managed through natural turnover, vacancies, redeployment and voluntary early release.