11 hours Ago By R T
Wrexham Council look set for a 4.4% increase in settlement from Welsh Government, with the figure impacting on how the council makes future spending and saving plans. Wrexham has a mid table above inflation settlement in the regular league table of figures announced as part of the wider Welsh Government process, with Newport topping the table with a 5.
6% rise and Monmouthshire seeing the lowest at 2.8%. Wrexham’s 4.
4% is well below the Council Leader Mark Pritchard’s “utopia” figure, and below Deputy Leader Cllr David A Bithell’s 5% expectation – report here . Jayne Bryant MS, Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government told councils the figures today following on from the Welsh Government budget process yesterday, saying, “In 2025-26, local authorities will receive £6.1bn from the Welsh Government Revenue Support Grant (“RSG”) and non-domestic rates (“NDR”) to spend on delivering key services.
This means the core revenue funding for local government in 2025-26 will increase by 4.3% on a like-for-like basis compared to the current year. “The additional funding provided through the Autumn Budget is welcome as we emerge from the prolonged period of austerity imposed by previous UK Governments, as well as a range of economic crises such as spiralling inflation.
Our overall settlement for 2025-26 is more than £1bn higher than it would have been under the previous UK Government. However, fourteen years of constrained public funding cannot be turned around in just one budget and it will take time for the public finances to recover. “I want to pay tribute to the incredible amount of hard work and resilience shown across the sector by both officers and elected members over many years.
We have been through a long period of public sector austerity with an increase in demand for major services, a pandemic and an extra-ordinary inflationary period. “As we have developed the draft Budget 2025-26, which was published yesterday, we have again prioritised protecting core frontline public services as far as possible, supporting the hardest hit households and prioritising jobs. “We have therefore provided a rise of 4.
3% in the local government settlement. In line with our focus on supporting households, this also continues to protect vulnerable and low-income households from any reduction in support through the Council Tax Reduction Scheme (“CTRS”). We will continue to maintain full entitlements in 2025-26 by providing £244m in the settlement.
“In addition to the core settlement, I am publishing indicative information on specific revenue and capital grants planned for 2025-26, which amount to almost £1.1bn for revenue and more than £1.0 bn for capital at this provisional stage.
“We have worked closely with local government throughout the year and understand the pressures local government is facing. I welcome the improved level of funding from the UK Government as well as the pragmatic way Welsh Government is working with local government to ensure we do all we can within the funding available. The Minister pointed to levers that councillors can pull locally to raise cash, “It is not appropriate for the Welsh Government to set an arbitrary level of council tax increase.
The setting of budgets, and in turn council tax, is the responsibility of each local authority. Authorities will need to take account of the full range of sources of funding available to them, as well as the pressures they face. I encourage councils to continue to carefully balance these pressures with the impact of increases on household finances.
I know that across Wales, leaders, elected members and officers will be striving to find ways to make the best use of their resources to make the most difference for their communities” Welsh Government noted they have increased the general capital funding for local authorities to £200m “to recognise the impact of inflation in recent years” and increased funding for the Low Carbon Heat Grant to £30m “...
.to enable authorities to respond to our joint priority of decarbonisation, to continue the focus on contributing to the Net Zero Wales plan”. Commenting on the provisional settlement, Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for Finance and Local Government, Peter Fox MS said: “Labour’s funding formula has prioritised their cash reserve rich heartlands with this settlement, ignoring the needs of councils like Monmouthshire, Powys and Flintshire that have been left at the bottom of the pile.
“And we still lack clarity from the Welsh Labour Government as to whether the increase costs incurred through the Chancellor’s National Insurance rise will hit council budgets directly, impacting on already sky-high council taxes. “Labour’s funding formula is woefully outdated – it’s broken. The Welsh Conservatives will fix it to reflect the situation on the ground, promote fairness across Wales and deliver value for money for ratepayers.
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