Council statement on provisional Welsh Government funding settlement
Vale of Glamorgan Council Leader Lis Burnett has reacted to Welsh Government’s Local Authority funding announcement.
Mark Drakeford, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Welsh language, revealed that the Council would receive, a 3.4 per cent increase on last year’s figure.
The majority of Council funding comes from this source, with the rest made up of council tax contributions and a proportion of business rates collected across Wales.
Cllr Burnett said: “Today’s news is welcome as the Council will receive more money than we anticipated. I’d like to thank colleagues in Welsh and UK Governments for recognising the significant financial difficulties Local Authorities are experiencing and acting to improve the picture both through today’s settlement and in the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget.
“However, this alone will not solve the problem and there is no disguising the fact that we remain in an extremely challenging financial position caused by rising costs and consistent real-terms funding cuts over the last decade.
“The settlement still leaves us needing to make significant savings to balance the books, a task that would be harder without the action we have already taken.
“High energy prices, inflation and interest rates are contributing to the situation, as are costs associated with growing demand for Social Care and provision for school pupils with Additional Learning Needs (ALNs).
“What will always be an absolute priority is looking after our most vulnerable residents and protecting the services on which they rely.
“Next year 70 per cent of the budget will be spent on Education and Social Care, up from 68 per cent last year, with that share set to rise again in future.
“Clearly that leaves very little left for the range of other services the Council provides.
“Though the obstacles facing us are huge, this is a situation we have long been preparing for, one that senior offices have been working to address for many months.
“The Council has an ambitious transformation agenda that we are confident will bring efficiency savings across the organisation, while changes to council tax and the careful use of reserve funds can also help bridge the gap.
“Even so, this is an extremely testing situation that will mean further difficult and unpalatable decisions lie ahead as it is a simple fact that we will not be able to maintain all services at current levels with fewer resources.”
Budget working groups are currently operating across all areas of the Council to identify savings.
The Council will publish its budget proposal next month, which will then be the subject of public consultation.
It will also be considered by scrutiny committees before a balanced budget is agreed at a meeting of all Councillors in March.