Somerset Council
Unitary council responsible for local services across Somerset, England.
Somerset Council plans to ask for more Exceptional Financial Support in 2026-27 and has warned of a Section 114 risk, Room151 reported on 30 September 2026, after almost £120m of such support over three years.
Last refreshed: 7 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Can Somerset Council balance its books without more Exceptional Financial Support?
Timeline for Somerset Council
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Is Britain Actually Broke?Background
Somerset Council is the unitary authority running local services across Somerset in south-west England. It has drawn Exceptional Financial Support, the ministry's permission to meet day-to-day costs from capital resources, in each of the three years to 2026-27.
Its general fund reserve was £67.363m on 31 March 2026. That is £6.889m short of the 10% benchmark its CIPFA reviewer applies. The housing ministry's 2025-26 outturn returns agree with that reserve figure and record a deficit of £105.5m on Somerset's Dedicated Schools Grant.
The schools deficit is held off the council's accounts by a statutory override lasting until the end of 2027-28. Ministers have pledged a grant meeting 90% of schools deficits as they stood on 31 March 2026. The CIPFA review names the 2027 local elections among the risks facing the council.
Somerset asks again for emergency support
Somerset will go back to the housing ministry for more Exceptional Financial Support in 2026-27, Room151 reported on 30 September, and warned of a Section 114 risk if it does not approve a balanced budget. Room151's full report was not available, so the terms of that warning are unconfirmed. The ministry's 2025-26 outturn returns, released on 17 September, show Somerset capitalised £43.0m under direction that year.
A CIPFA external assurance review dated May 2026 counts almost £120m of support for Somerset across the three years to 2026-27. Around £40m of it paid for transformation that, in the reviewers' words, "has thus FAR not been delivered as planned". The review judged that Somerset cannot easily avoid either further support or further use of its reserves.