Hampshire County Council Consultation

Each year, Hampshire County Council sets a budget that determines how much money can be spent on local services. By law, we must balance our budget, which means we cannot spend more than the funding we have available.

Like many councils, we are facing rising costs and increasing demand for services, particularly for supporting vulnerable children and adults and school transport. This means we expect a funding gap of £198.9 million in 2027/28. A funding gap is the difference between the cost of providing services and the money available to pay for them.

We have limited options for addressing this gap. These are summarised below and explained in more detail within the consultation information pack, which we encourage you to read before responding. It is likely that we would need to use a combination of these options.

As we plan our budget, we want to understand your views and any potential impact our decisions could have on residents, communities, businesses and organisations across Hampshire.

We are also open to other ideas. If you have suggestions for how we could reduce costs, increase income, manage demand for services, or help address the funding gap, we would welcome them as part of this consultation. Click on the link below or go straight into the Hampshire County Council website.

Consultation on Hampshire County Council's Budget for 2027-2028 | About the Council | Hampshire County Council