Council / First SIC budget gets an airing amid warning over rising costs
THE FIRST Shetland Islands Council (SIC) directorate budget for 2026/27 has come in front of elected members.
Members of the education and families committee gave their backing to a budget for services under its remit worth just over £70 million.
This budget is always the largest one of its kind in the council.
It still needs to be approved at two other council meetings before it is ratified.
Finance manager Paul Fraser said the budget for the education and families committee services was a “transparent and realistic” one.
But at a meeting of the committee on Monday he expressed a warning over the wider financial picture facing the council.
Fraser said the core funding the SIC receives each year from the Scottish Government has not kept pace with rising costs, which are often outwith the council’s control.
This includes national pay awards, inflation and energy costs.
Overall the proposed SIC budget for 2026/27 amounts to nearly £190 million, with £45.7 million of this to be met by reserves. Of this proposed draw, around £26.1 million would be deemed “unsustainable”.
But Fraser reiterated that the overall budget was not a case of departments “wildly overspending”.
The proposed budget for services under the education and families committee is up from around £64 million on the previous year.
One of the factors in the growth of the budget is new posts, with Fraser highlighting additional support needs and cleaning roles, but pay awards and inflation are key elements.
There are also four review proposals, including on support for learning, devolved school management and consolidating janitorial, catering and cleaning staff into a new central facilities management service.
However these reviews will need to be undertaken fully before any potential budget implications are recognised.
Committee chairman Davie Sandison said one key factor was looking to be smarter with the resources the SIC has.
SIC leader Emma Macdonald also highlighted that the council spends more on education – a statutory responsibility – than other local authority areas.
With a lot of spend on things the SIC does not have control over, she also sought to tackle the “perception” that “we’re not doing everything we can to control our budget”.
Meanwhile Shetland Central member Moraig Lyall said she would be keen to see analysis of the SIC’s spend per child versus the outcomes.
But John Fraser, representing Lerwick South, highlighted there are a number of elements outside the academic side of things that “you cannot put a value on”.
A series of other budgets will go in front of councillors this week before a final decision is made at a meeting of the full SIC on 25 February.
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