Thanet District Council’s Cabinet is set to consider a draft budget of £30.5 million for the 2026/27 financial year at its meeting on Thursday 22 January.
The proposals focus on improving financial stability by addressing systemic service pressures, while maintaining and improving frontline services, as well as investing in the district’s public realm.
The council has benefited overall from changes to government funding introduced through the Fair Funding Review in the provisional settlement for the next three years, as well as £2.1 million in recurring savings following a revaluation of the pension fund.
However, Thanet’s resources remain severely challenged by externally driven pressures in the statutory provision of temporary accommodation and housing benefit subsidy, which have substantially contributed to significant overspends in 2024-25 and 2025-26.
The 2026/27 strategy continues to prioritise ‘defensive investment’ against these revenue risks.
A £21 million capital requirement for the acquisition of homelessness accommodation aims to continue to move the council away from the use of volatile, high-cost, nightly-paid private accommodation to a fixed-cost in-house model, as well as ending the need to place those affected locally outside the district..
Other key proposals include:
- Permanent funding for a second graffiti cleansing team following a successful trial this year which has seen more than 1,390 locations cleaned since April 2025.
- An allocation of £180,000 for one-off investments in the public realm and other local priorities for Cabinet to propose.
- Provision of £125,000 to support the extended period for beach and coastal toilet cleaning.
- New posts to meet mandatory duties under the Renters’ Rights Act and the Building Safety Act, projected to be self-financing through grants and levies.
- A capital allocation of £180,000 to resurface Ramsgate’s East Cliff promenade.
Council Tax and Fees: The draft budget assumes a Council Tax increase of just under 3%, which is the maximum permissible without a referendum. This would result in an £8.10 increase per year for a Band D equivalent property.
Fees and charges are also proposed to increase by a typical 4%, with a projected income growth of £153,000 for the financial year.
Council Leader, Cllr Rick Everitt, said: “These draft proposals represent our commitment to placing Thanet on a sustainable financial footing while continuing to deliver the services our residents value most. We are facing significant demand-led pressures, particularly in temporary accommodation, so this strategy focuses on ‘investing to save’ and addressing structural deficits to protect the council’s financial viability ahead of Local Government Reorganisation expected in 2028.
“Unlike council housing, which is ring-fenced financially and funded by rent and grants, temporary accommodation costs affect the resources we have to deliver other services. By investing in our own properties, we can deliver a better service for the residents affected as well as saving money overall.
“It is important to stress that the budget is currently a set of proposals, not a done deal. We have worked hard to identify savings, such as those from the pension fund revaluation, to ensure we can still propose improvements to the public realm, including making our second graffiti removal team permanent. I look forward to the Cabinet’s discussion next week and, crucially, to hearing from our residents. We will be launching a public consultation immediately after the meeting to ensure local people can provide their feedback before any final decisions are made by the Full Council in February.”
Following the Cabinet meeting, a budget survey will launch on the council’s engagement platform, Your Voice Thanet. This will give local people the opportunity to provide feedback and views on the proposals before the budget is finalised.
The reports being considered by Cabinet on Thursday 22 January are now available on the council’s website.
Following the Cabinet’s consideration of these draft proposals, they will be reviewed by the Overview and Scrutiny Panel on Tuesday 3 February. Recommendations will then return to Cabinet on Tuesday 17 February, before the final budget and Council Tax level are set at the Full Council meeting on Thursday 26 February 2026.
