Holding the council to account · Checked 2026-08-03
What this means
North Ayrshire said it needed £17.8m more than it expected to get this year. Nearly every council in Scotland said the same thing. On the measures every council reports the same way, it is worse than the Scottish average on 1 of 6. It missed 7 of its own service goals. Independent auditors have 8 warnings about it that are still open. Every figure below links to the official paper it came from.
Words with a dotted underline have a quick explanation. Hover or tap them.
The headline
If you only read one part, read this. The detailed figures and official source links come after it.
Extra money it said it needed
£17.8m
to pay for planned services
Nearly every council says this every year. It is a plan, not money missing from the bank. The law says they cannot plan to spend more than they get. So the gap always gets closed. Usually that is partly your council tax.
Worse than the Scotland average
1 of 6
measures compared
Every council reports these the same way, so it is a fair comparison. The other 5 are better than average.
Watchdog warnings still open
8
not signed off
Independent auditors raised these and they are not closed yet. They do not work for the council.
Follow the money
These figures show what the council planned to spend on everyday services and what it still needed to find. That second number is not money already missing. The final accounts show what really happened after the year ended. A pays for everyday services. A pays for big, long-term things.
Money for everyday council services
£486.1m
2026/27
North Ayrshire Council planned to spend £486.1m on everyday services in 2026/27.
Extra money needed for services
£17.8m
2026/27
The 2026/27 plan needed £17.8m more to pay for North Ayrshire Council's planned services. The council said it would find the extra money through savings, extra income, money already set aside or other changes. The final accounts will show what really happened.
Savings the council planned to make
£0.2m
2026/27
The council's 2026/27 plan says it will save £0.2m. That money has not necessarily been saved yet. The final accounts will show whether it happened.
Money the budget does not explain
£17.5m
2026/27
The budget lists £17.5m as ‘other measures’. It does not say exactly what this money will pay for or where it will come from. In real life, this is an unexplained part of the plan, not proof that the money has already been found.
Source: Local government budgets 2026/27
The bit nobody explains
Councils say they need more money nearly every year, whatever they are given. Here is what that really means, and who ends up paying for it.
31 of Scotland’s 32 councils said they needed more money this year.
Only South Lanarkshire said it had money left over. North Ayrshire said it needed £17.8m more.
The money from the Scottish Government went up that year, not down. Councils got £15.7bn. That is up 2% on the year before, even after prices rose. And the amount they say they are short has stayed about the same for seven years running. It works out at about 3p in every pound they spend.
Before a council sets its budget, it works out two numbers. What it thinks its services will cost. And what money it thinks it will get.
If the cost is bigger, the difference is the gap. It is a plan, made before any decisions. It is not money missing from a bank account.
The law says a council cannot plan to spend more than it gets. So the gap always gets closed. It has to be. The real question is who pays to close it.
This is every council added together, for 2026/27.
The biggest single way the gap was closed was your council tax. £221m of it. Every council in Scotland put its rate up. The average rise was 7.7%. It ran from 4% in City of Edinburgh to 10% in Aberdeenshire and Moray. That was the second year in a row. Over the two years together, bills went up 18% on average.
A lot of people assume a council has to spend the lot, or it gets less next year. That is not how the grant works.
The Scottish Government works out each council’s share using a formula. It counts things the council cannot change:
It does not count how well the council managed last year’s money. A council that comes in on budget does not get less the next year for doing it.
Council tax is only about a fifth of the money. So putting it up does not raise much next to the whole budget. But it comes straight out of your pocket.
Those are the facts. What you make of them is up to you.
Councils work out and describe their budget gap in different ways, so these figures are not a perfect like-for-like comparison. Audit Scotland says comparisons should be made with caution. Figures from Local government budgets 2026/27, Audit Scotland, for the Accounts Commission, June 2026. How the formula works is set out by SPICe, the Scottish Parliament's research service.
Promises versus results
A goal is what the council said it wanted to achieve. The result is what happened. They sit side by side here, and it is flagged when the two numbers cannot be compared fairly.
Children in poorer areas
Goal
714 points
What happened
664.3 points
Period: 2023/24, latest figure in the 2024/25 audit · 49.7 points below goal
In plain English: This score adds up points from school qualifications. It looks at pupils in one in five neighbourhoods facing the most hardship.
School leavers
Goal
908 points
What happened
840.8 points
Period: 2023/24, latest figure in the 2024/25 audit · 67.2 points below goal
In plain English: This score adds up points from school qualifications for every pupil who left school.
Young people who have been in care
Goal
465 points
What happened
355 points
Period: Latest figure in the 2024/25 audit · 110 points below goal
In plain English: This score adds up points from school qualifications for pupils who have been in care.
Housing
Goal
396 homes
What happened
371 homes
Period: 2024/25 · 25 homes below goal
Clean energy
Goal
28,499 kW
What happened
17,630 kW
Period: 2024/25 · 10,869 kW below goal
In plain English: This measures how much clean heat and electricity the council’s buildings could produce at once. kW is the unit used to measure that power.
Waste
Goal
56%
What happened
52.8%
Period: 2024/25 · 3.2 percentage points below goal
The fall was partly linked to new SEPA rules sending upholstered domestic seating for incineration rather than recycling.
Council staff
Goal
10.47 days
What happened
12.76 days
Period: 2024/25 · 2.29 days above goal
In plain English: This is the average number of work days lost to sickness for one full-time staff member.
Teacher and waste-service cover contributed about £2.6m of extra cost. Waste Services reported 30.42 days lost per employee.
Child poverty
Goal
A sustained decrease
What happened
24.3%, down from 29.2% in 2022/23
Period: 2023/24
This is a one-year fall reported by the council using End Child Poverty Coalition figures. It is encouraging, but one fall does not prove a sustained trend or show what caused it.
Source: North Ayrshire Council Annual Performance Report 2024/25
Money help
Goal
No goal published
What happened
5,842 referrals; £21.5m financial gains
Period: 2024/25
In plain English: This counts people sent for help and the money the service says it helped them gain.
A reported financial gain is not the same as new council spending. The report does not publish a goal or show the average gain per household.
Source: North Ayrshire Council Annual Performance Report 2024/25
Emergency help, local decisions
In 2025/26, North Ayrshire Council awarded a Crisis Grant in 59% of decided applications. Scotland's rate was 65%. The same national scheme produced council rates from 52% to 89%.
Decisions resulting in an award
59%
About 3,615 awards from 6,140 decisions.
Compared with Scotland
-6 points
Rank #27 of 32 when published award rates are ordered highest to lowest.
Decided by the deadline
99%
By the end of the next working day, January to March 2026.
Average award
£90
£329,636 in Crisis Grant expenditure during 2025/26.
Five complete years
Share of decisions resulting in an award
The question this council needs to answer
North Ayrshire Council's published award rate is 6 percentage points below Scotland. The national tables show the difference, but not its cause. The council should explain whether local case mix, evidence requirements, repeat applications, budget pressure, staff guidance or another part of administration produced it.
A higher rate is not automatically better and a lower rate is not proof of unlawful or ruthless decision-making. The figures prove different outcomes. They do not establish motive, applicant need or decision quality on their own.
Source: Scottish Government, Scottish Welfare Fund statistics to 31 March 2026, Tables 6, 18, 24, 28 and 36. Open the source workbook.
Same ruler for all 32 councils
Every council in Scotland reports these figures the same way, so this is a fair comparison. The year is shown for each figure.
The share of the council's A-class roads flagged for repair.
Here: 27.7% · Scotland: 30.3% · 2025/26 · 2.6 percentage points less than the Scotland figure
What the council spends collecting bins, per property, each year.
Here: £65.16 · Scotland: £77.26 · 2024/25 · £12 less than the Scotland figure
How much of the year's council tax came in on time.
Here: 94.0% · Scotland: 95.5% · 2024/25 · 1.4 percentage points less than the Scotland figure
What the council spends on each primary pupil in a year.
Here: £8,668 · Scotland: £7,606 · 2024/25 · £1,062 more than the Scotland figure
Lower is not better here. It means less money spent on each child, which can mean good value or it can mean less help in the classroom. This one is not scored.
Average days lost to sickness per council worker, not counting teachers.
Here: 13.7 days · Scotland: 14.5 days · 2024/25 · 0.8 days less than the Scotland figure
The share of household waste that gets recycled.
Here: 53.0% · Scotland: 44.3% · 2024/25 · 8.7 percentage points more than the Scotland figure
The share of adults happy with how clean the streets are.
Here: 67.0% · Scotland: 57.0% · 2024/25 · 10.0 percentage points more than the Scotland figure
Figures from the Local Government Benchmarking Framework, published by the Improvement Service, the national comparison every council takes part in. Data file retrieved 2026-08-03. Check the data yourself.
Councils like yours
Comparing a big city with a small island council is not fair on either. So the Improvement Service, which runs the national benchmarking, sorts all 32 councils into groups of eight and publishes an average for each group. The grouping and every average below are theirs, not mine. Bin, road and recycling measures are grouped by how urban or rural an area is. Collection and satisfaction measures are grouped by deprivation.
For services shaped by geography, such as bins, roads and recycling
North Ayrshire is grouped with mainly urban councils:
For services shaped by deprivation, such as collection rates and satisfaction
North Ayrshire is grouped with the most deprived councils:
The share of the council's A-class roads flagged for repair.
2025-26
In 2010-11, the first year published, the figure here was 46.7%. Figures are adjusted for inflation by the publisher, so the two years can be compared.
What the council spends collecting bins, per property, each year.
2024-25
In 2012-13, the first year published, the figure here was £70.14. Figures are adjusted for inflation by the publisher, so the two years can be compared.
How much of the year's council tax came in on time.
2024-25
In 2010-11, the first year published, the figure here was 93.6%. Figures are adjusted for inflation by the publisher, so the two years can be compared.
What the council spends on each primary pupil in a year.
2024-25
In 2010-11, the first year published, the figure here was £7,692. Figures are adjusted for inflation by the publisher, so the two years can be compared.
Lower is not better here. It means less money spent on each child, which can mean good value or it can mean less help in the classroom. This one is not scored.
Average days lost to sickness per council worker, not counting teachers.
2024-25
In 2010-11, the first year published, the figure here was 8.0 days. Figures are adjusted for inflation by the publisher, so the two years can be compared.
The share of household waste that gets recycled.
2024-25
In 2010-11, the first year published, the figure here was 43.5%. Figures are adjusted for inflation by the publisher, so the two years can be compared.
The share of adults happy with how clean the streets are.
2024-25
In 2013-14, the first year published, the figure here was 78.2%. Figures are adjusted for inflation by the publisher, so the two years can be compared.
Groups and averages from the Local Government Benchmarking Framework, Improvement Service. “Similar councils” is the average for the group of eight that includes North Ayrshire, on the set of councils the publisher uses for that measure.
Outside checks
These are checks by people outside the council: Audit Scotland, the Accounts Commission and the Scottish Housing Regulator. An is a point they recorded after checking the books or how a service works. is the formal name for one of those checks. It is not a gold star for every service.
Audit Scotland / Accounts Commission · 2025-09-26
The final accounts were judged to show a true and fair picture. Before sign-off, auditors found £82.374m of errors in the draft accounts. Most were in the numbers for buildings, equipment and leased items. The council corrected them. The recorded value of the council’s homes was reduced by a further £33.673m for the previous year.
What was recommended: Check the figures for buildings, equipment and council homes more carefully before the accounts are published.
The recorded response: The council accepted this and said it would improve its year-end checks during 2025/26.
Audit Scotland / Accounts Commission · 2025-09-26
The council’s plan says it needs £46.7m more by 2027/28. £18.2m of that pressure comes from health and social care. Savings alone will not be enough: the plan also mentions changing services, cutting some services, raising income and using money set aside for the future.
What was recommended: Show how much each change is meant to save, and compare that with the £46.7m still needed.
The recorded response: The council said its plan would show the changes to services, extra income and use of money set aside for the future.
Accounts Commission · 2026-06-11
North Ayrshire moved to a ‘critical only’ rule for council-funded adult care. In everyday words, people may now need to be at very serious risk before the council will pay for help. The change is linked to more people needing care, higher costs and pressure on the budget.
Source: Local government budgets 2026/27
Audit Scotland / Accounts Commission · 2025-09-26
North Ayrshire has a £38.5m bill for road repairs waiting to be done. In 2025, 30.6% of its roads were marked for possible treatment, almost 1 in 3. Keeping roads at about the same standard needs about £5.5m each year. The 2025/26 budget was £5.3m before clearing the backlog.
Audit Scotland / Accounts Commission · 2025-09-26
The planned final cost rose from £86.8m to £114.6m. That is £27.8m, or 32%, above the original budget. The approved response included up to £16m in extra borrowing. That could add about £912,000 a year to council running costs.
Audit Scotland / Accounts Commission · 2025-09-26
The council said 45 of 46 Council Plan actions were on track. The review found that it had not set the pass rules first. In a sample of eight actions, two did not show enough evidence to prove why they were marked on track.
What was recommended: Set the rules before judging whether a promise has been met. Make the next steps specific and measurable.
The recorded response: The council’s new strategy says it will use clear next steps. Its public dashboard is still being rebuilt, so this is not counted as finished.
Source: North Ayrshire Council annual audit 2024/25; Performance Management Strategy 2023 to 2028; North Ayrshire Council performance information
Audit Scotland / Accounts Commission · 2025-09-26
At the time of the audit, North Ayrshire did not publish the full savings or service changes from its big change programme in one place. People therefore could not see what a promised saving changed in practice.
What was recommended: Show people the savings planned, the savings made and what changed for services.
The recorded response: The council said it would publish more information. Its dashboard is still being rebuilt.
Source: North Ayrshire Council annual audit 2024/25; Performance Management Strategy 2023 to 2028; North Ayrshire Council performance information
Audit Scotland / Accounts Commission · 2025-09-26
Staff were off sick for an average of 12.76 days. The goal was 10.47 days. Cover for teachers and waste workers cost about £2.6m. Waste Services lost 30.42 days per employee.
What was recommended: Check whether the absence plan is reducing sick days where cover costs the most.
The recorded response: The council reported better results and said it improved tracking and manager training. Sick days were still above the goal.
Audit Scotland / Accounts Commission · 2025-09-26
Seven council-run charity funds had not been used for at least three years. There was no clear plan to put them back to work. The council said it would keep advertising the funds and review the issue during the 2025/26 audit.
What your council said it would do
A is something the council said it would do. We look for a date, an owner and later proof. Saying it in a plan is not the same as finishing it.
Check the accounts and property values more carefully after the large corrections.
The council accepted this and said it would do the work during 2025/26. An independent check that it is finished is not linked here.
Decide what success looks like before saying a Council Plan action is finished. Use clear next steps and dates.
The council’s new strategy says it will use clear next steps. This shows a process change, not proof that every promise has been checked.
Source: North Ayrshire Council annual audit 2024/25; Performance Management Strategy 2023 to 2028
Publish the savings planned, the savings actually made and what changed for services.
The council said it would publish more information. Its dashboard is still being rebuilt.
Source: North Ayrshire Council annual audit 2024/25; Performance Management Strategy 2023 to 2028; North Ayrshire Council performance information
Check whether shared services or staff arrangements could protect services or save money.
The audit recorded discussions with East and South Ayrshire Councils, but this sample does not claim that a shared arrangement was completed.
Publish a simple dashboard showing whether staffing levels and planning are improving services.
The audit says this was still unfinished in 2024/25. A later source is needed.
Make a clear plan for managing, advertising and using the funds for local public benefit.
The audit still listed this as ongoing and said it would be reviewed in the 2025/26 audit.
This is a first, source-complete record, not a claim that every council decision is covered. These gaps stay visible so the page cannot pretend to know more than the evidence supports.
Audit Scotland / Accounts Commission · 2026-06-11
The money for everyday services, extra money councils said they needed when setting their 2026/27 budgets, planned savings and other budget entries.
Council · 2026
The council's budget decision, council tax increase and Scottish Government grant change.
Audit Scotland / Accounts Commission · 2025-09-26
The audited accounts, independent checks, performance results, roads backlog, building-project risks and agreed action plan.
Council · 2025
The council’s own headline facts, child-poverty figure, Money Matters result and reported service achievements.
Council · 2025-09-23
The council’s published financial statements, performance summary and context for how money is shared between services.
Council · 2026-01-26
The council’s follow-up reporting on independent audit actions and the refreshed performance results available after the annual audit.
Council · 2026-01-08
The council’s revised rules for performance judgements, SMART next steps, dashboards and public reporting actions.
Council
The current public performance page, including its statement that the public performance dashboard is being redeveloped.
Council · 2026-01-27
North Ayrshire’s council-published benchmarking context for housing quality, council-tax collection and other priority indicators.
Council officers and elected members can send corrections or a response through the contact page. Confirmed changes will be dated and recorded here.
Straight answers
The North Ayrshire area page shows the local poverty, work and pay figures that explain why council decisions matter.
One simple next step
Not ready to write yet?
Councils publish new figures every year, and almost nobody hears about it. I read the audits and the budget papers when they land, and send one email when the numbers move. A few times a year. Nothing else, ever.