Bucks Council's predicted budget gap over £60 million more than England average

The revelation comes as part of newly released data on savings being made at 212 of the 218 upper tier authorities in the UK.

Bucks Radio analysis of the study by BBC Shared Data Unit shows the average predicted budget gap for 2027/2028 across England’s authorities to be around £21.24 million, whilst Buckinghamshire Council's anticipated gap is £83.7 million. 

This also makes Bucks the area with the 7th largest predicted budget gap*, after:

• Hampshire with £179.7m
• Barnet with £113.483m
• Essex with £110m
• Croydon with £100m
• Havering with £89.1m
• Worcestershire with £84.495m

BBC Shared Data Unit analysis also found that councils across the UK will need to plug a combined £3.8bn budget gap by the end of next year, despite planning £3.2bn of savings in 2026/27. Their analysis also found 95% of upper-tier councils approved savings as they tried to balance their budgets, with measures including slashing bus routes, cutting support for children and young people and closing heritage attractions. 

The figures shared also detailed net revenue budgets for authorities, council tax and planned savings. The national average for these figures compared with Buckinghamshire Council, according to Bucks Radio analysis, can be seen below. 

When asked for comment, Buckinghamshire Council's Cabinet Member for Resources Robert Carington said:

"Buckinghamshire Council agreed a balanced budget for the coming year at the Full Council meeting on 25 February 2026.

"This is despite increasing financial challenges brought about by national government decisions which mean funds raised locally are being diverted away from Buckinghamshire to other local areas around the country. Since the introduction of Fair Funding, Buckinghamshire has lost £44.5 million in funding and is now the third worst impacted upper tier authority in the country as a result of these changes.

"The effect of these national government funding decisions means that, cumulatively across 2026/27 and 2027/28, the council has to deliver savings of £83.7 million. Our plans show that we will achieve this through the planned savings and income set out in our approved budget.

"We are a financially robust council and continue to perform well against a range of measures used to assess financial resilience, including our levels of spending, savings, reserves and borrowing.

"It is also important to note that councils present budget gap figures in different ways. Some use cumulative figures, while others report year-on-year figures. Some include planned income and others do not, which can make direct comparisons between councils misleading."

*Data notes: all analysis based on provided figures. These figures form BBC Shared Data Unit looked at budgets set in February and March, meaning council budget positions may have changed since then.