Highland Council Budget 2027-2030
Welcome to the Highland Council’s Budget Simulator. This is one of the ways we are using to help gather your views to support setting the Council’s Budget for the next 3 years.
The challenge
The Council is forecasting a budget gap of:
- £11.2m in 2027/28
- £13.6m in 2028/29
- £14.4m in 2029/30
This amounts to a total funding gap of £39.2 million over the next three years.
This is in addition to the £32.8 million of savings and other budget measures already agreed for 2027/28 and 2028/29 through our three-year financial planning approach.
The decisions we make will affect the services we provide across Highland. That's why it's important we hear from you.
Your feedback will help councillors understand what matters most to communities and inform the decisions they make when setting out the Council’s spending commitments on 4 March 2027.
What we need to do
The Highland Council has made significant progress in recent years in addressing budget pressures, and our approach to financial planning has been recognised by Audit Scotland. However, rising costs and wider economic challenges continue to put significant pressures on local government budgets.
To address the funding gap, our strategy will continue to focus on:
- Exploring financial flexibilities, including tax and other fiscal options.
- Delivering strategic council-wide cross cutting savings.
- Identifying savings within cluster and service areas.
- Continuing to transform how we deliver services and improve efficiencies.
Get involved
The Simulator gives you the opportunity to try balancing the Council’s budget yourself. The simulator focuses on setting the budget for one year only against a savings target of £11.2m.
In 2026/27, the Council had an £868 million revenue budget to deliver a wide range of services including education, adult social care, housing, welfare, waste and recycling services, as well as maintaining roads, footpaths, bridges, and harbours. The figures used in this Simulator should be considered as indicative, but are as close as possible to the actual council expenditure on services.
How it works
Move the sliders to balance the budget. You can reduce spend in areas and increase income through fees, charges, and tax.
The information helps you understand what the potential impact would be if different areas of the budget were reduced.
Once you have balanced the budget, you will be asked to submit it and you can also share any other suggestions or ideas. This will help us to understand your priorities.
The Simulator will be open until 4 December.
Explore other ways of having our say:
- Complete a budget survey online (engage.highland.gov.uk) or in paper form at libraries and service points. There are three versions – public, community group, and young people.
- Ideas can be posted on an online ideas board at engage.highland.gov.uk
- The Council will also be engaging directly with groups, including community councils, housing tenant forums, business forums, the third sector, and parent councils.