For years, Lincolnshire has been short-changed by national funding. As a large rural county with long distances, an ageing population, and high service demand, we were expected to do more with less.
That is why the Lincolnshire Conservatives launched a relentless, evidence-led fight for fairer funding. Now, that fight has delivered results.
The latest provisional government settlement confirms Fair Funding will deliver an extra £17.5 million a year to Lincolnshire County Council for two years. From 2027–28, that grows to around £50 million extra annually above the previous baseline.
This is not a one-off. It is a structural correction to past underfunding.
What this changes
Put simply, it completely changes the financial context.
Even before the longer-term uplift takes effect, the council will have around £26 million of additional headroom next year. That matters because it means decisions being taken now cannot be justified on the basis that “there is no money”.
There is money. The issue is how it is used.
Reform’s record so far
Since taking control of the county council, Reform has already made clear choices, and not the right ones.
They have:
- Cut highway budgets, cancelling or deferring planned maintenance and local improvement works, at a time when residents are rightly demanding better roads.
- They decided to reduce funding for children’s services, despite rising demand and multiple warnings from professionals that early cuts create bigger problems in the future.
These are frontline services that affect people every day. Roads shape how residents judge council competence. Children’s services protect the most vulnerable. Cutting both is not a technical adjustment; it is a political decision.
Council tax, another false choice
At the same time, the Reformers are preparing the ground for large council tax rises, arguing they are unavoidable.
The new funding settlement proves otherwise.
With fairer funding secured and with significant additional headroom already available, there is no need to pile extra pressure onto household budgets while cutting core services. Residents should not be asked to pay more while receiving less.
Conservatives delivered, Reformers are spending it.
The uncomfortable truth for Reform is this: they are benefiting from funding secured by Conservative advocacy, but they are choosing to spend it badly.
Fairer funding did not appear overnight. It came from years of work, data, and pressure on the government to recognise the real costs of delivering services in a county like Lincolnshire.
That fight is won. The immediate challenge—deliver for Lincolnshire now.
The choice ahead
Lincolnshire now has a clear choice:
- Use fairer funding for roads, children’s services, and local priorities, or
- Keep cutting and raising council tax—something residents neither need nor ask for.
The money is coming in. Now is the time for residents to speak up and demand that these resources be invested where they matter most.
Fairer funding is here.
Cuts were a choice. You have a say—choose investment, not more cuts. Make your voice heard.