Medway approves budget with 4.99% council tax rise

Medway Council requested the additional support from the government as it faced a dire financial situation

Medway Council has approved a 4.99% council tax rise as part of its 2025/26 budget to meet the growing cost of providing essential services.

Officials said this includes social care for children and adults, those who are at risk of homelessness and services for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

The council said it spends more than £1.1m every day for these services.

At a full council meeting on Thursday, councillors agreed to invest a further £40.339m in its children and adult social care and education services, including £17.5m extra funding for Medway's schools.

This year, Medway Council received an extra £11m from the Local Government Settlement for 2025/26, and this amount has been incorporated in its 2025/26 budget.

Councillors also agreed to invest almost £6.8m more directly into adult social care, another £4.6m into children's social care, £2m more on SEND and a further £1.7m to provide temporary accommodation for those at risk of homelessness in the next financial year.

Medway was one of 30 councils awarded the Exceptional Financial Support scheme, meaning it can borrow more than £18m in 2025/26 from central government.

At the meeting, it was also agreed to increase council tax by 4.99% which equates to an increase of £1.68 per week for a Band D property, to a total of £1,842.32 per year.

Medway Council leader Vince Maple said: "The pressures that local authorities across the country are under is no secret.

"More and more people need help, and the complexity of the help they require also continues to increase.

"Although we received a more generous settlement from government for this year, anyone who reads through the papers will see that our services remain extremely stretched."

He added the council had a "moral duty" to "help and support our most vulnerable residents".