Council budgets will remain largely unchanged, but there should be more cash for social services, following the Welsh Government’s emergency public spending revisions.
Welsh finance minister, Rebecca Evans, today announced plans to identify £600m to balance the country’s books before the next financial year.
The move was forced upon the Welsh Government due to lingering inflation and higher-than-expected wage settlements for public sector staff.
Most of the money will come from £220m worth of cuts across services such as education, skills and childcare, £100m from financial reserves, and an extra £150m coming to Wales from fresh health spending by the UK government in Westminster.
But council funding has escaped relatively unscathed. The finance and local government department’s budget has seen small reductions of £28.5m across revenue spending and £10m across capital budgets.
Under the revised budget plans, health and social services in Wales will receive an extra £425m on top of an annual budget of £10.4bn. But Ms Evans warned health boards still need to make ‘extremely difficult decisions both this year and in the next financial year’ to balance their books.
Spending on transport in Wales will also increase to compensate for poor ticket sales.
The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) commented: 'These are not easy decisions, and we would support the Minister in protecting local government core funding in 2023-24. We also support the basic principles that the Welsh Government has applied in protecting front-line services, jobs and the most vulnerable. As the WLGA we wrote to the Treasury back in the summer making the case for additional funding in Wales and for more flexibilities in the way Wales is funded.
'We remain concerned about the programmes which will not proceed and the impact on budgets next year. Local government budgets are facing a pressure next year of £720m which is about 10% of our net expenditure. The funding available will not cover it all and we face a considerable funding gap. We will be working closely with the Welsh Government to achieve the best possible outcome for local services.'
