Shropshire Council sets out its improvement journey

Shropshire Council’s plans to urgently address its financial challenges and to become sustainable in the future were approved by Full Council at their meeting last week (Thursday 11 December 2025). 

These plans include the council’s Improvement Plan and its People Plan, both of which will be key to its long-term success.  

The Improvement Plan provides the council with a framework to help it to get better at managing its money, be clearer on its priorities and continue to support its staff to excel.  

How this will achieved includes the People Plan, as well as other key policies and plans, an up-to-date financial position and a proposed budget for 2026/27, which will all be considered by Cabinet and Full Council early next year. 

The Financial Monitoring Report Period 7, which was considered by Cabinet earlier this month (Wednesday 3 December 2025) showed that the council’s latest financial position is worse than at the end of period 6 or Quarter 2. As at 31 October 2025, the council is expecting to overspend by £50.746 million – a deterioration of £3.677m from that reported at Quarter 2.  

The council’s savings of £34.280m will not be enough to cover this projected overspend. 

The council is currently taking a more in-depth look at what it has spent to date as well as what it’s projecting to spend until the end of March 2026. This important information will then feed into its budget setting process early next year, but it will also help the council to ensure that it only borrows the money it needs from the government. 

This ask of the government – called Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) – is just one element of the council’s short-term plan for financial stability.    

It will include money to cover the cost of the Shrewsbury North West Relief Road (NWWR), should the council choose to cancel it, as well as money to enable it to change the way it does things. This may include things like investing in certain areas to enable them to work better and bring money into the organisation. 

Any money that the council borrows from the government will need to be paid back over time. 

The council submitted its application for this loan last week (Friday 12 December 2025) and it expects to hear back in February 2026. 

The council cannot rely on this money in the longer-term, which is why it needs robust plans in place to improve and and make sure that it is only spending as much as it has coming in.  

Councillor Roger Evans, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for finance, said: 

“Our financial position remains precarious, and we have made no secret of this.  

“We’ve introduced measures over the last few months to stop non-essential spending and reduce essential spending will remain in place and I’m pleased to say that they are working. 

“Unfortunately, due to a number of reasons, we are unable to do enough before the end of this financial year and over the following year without a loan from the government. 

“We’re confident that the government understand our position and are hopeful that we will get the money we need, whilst also starting to make those hard decisions that will avoid the need for external commissioners. 

“However, we’re clear that we need to improve and become sustainable, without money from the government in the longer-term and this is exactly what our plans will help us to do.” 

One of these difficult decisions, which was discussed last week at Full Council, was to explore the options for a new use for the council’s former headquarters, Shirehall. 

Council officers will now proceed with an application for outline planning consent for the mixed-use scheme, initiate public engagement, and prepare a detailed business case for final approval. There will also be a task and finish group set up to review the different options and identify any possible gaps and/or opportunities.  

Since declaring a financial emergency in September, the council has:   

• Introduced several measures to stop and reduce its spending.  

• Asked for a loan from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), the government department responsible for funding local councils, to help it to continue to deliver services until the end of this financial year, and over the following year.  

• Received free help and guidance from the Local Government Association (LGA) following a Corporate Peer Review in July.  

• Introduced an Improvement Board to challenge its spending and plans to improve, led by Independent Chair, Tracie Langley.