Edinburgh council budget 2025/26: What it means for you

The council tax is probably the main headline for many people. After several years of the Scottish Government freezing the tax or capping any increase, councils were left to decide for themselves how much to put it up by in their area.

The council said decisions on both the tax and the spending took into account the results of extensive public consultation on the budget.

The city’s minority Labour administration needed the support of at least two other parties to pass its budget proposals. And it secured the votes of Lib Dem and Conservative councillors with deals which took on board some of these group’s priorities.

Scroll through and see some of the details of what’s in the budget.

After the £1.8 billion package was approved, council leader Jane Meagher said: “Together, we’ve been able to deliver a balanced budget and prioritise spend on the areas residents have told us they care about most, while staying true to the council’s core commitments of tackling poverty and climate change and ‘getting the basics right’.

“We’ve updated our plans at every step, taking stock of the thousands of responses gathered during our public consultation calling for us to invest in our frontline services.

“Residents and community groups have been loud and clear that people want spending on schools and roads to be protected, sharing concerns about the local impact of the national social care crisis, and that they’d be willing to see council Ttax raised to make this happen.”

And finance convener Mandy Watt added: “Residents are aware of the financial challenges we face following years of under-funding, and they’ve told us in their thousands that they want to see vital services protected and enhanced.

“Huge pressures on health and social care and housing remain unaddressed nationally and while this budget does everything within our power to protect local services, we need greater action to be taken at a government level.”