WG CASH TO COUNCILS TO RISE AT LEAST 8.4% NEXT YEAR

WELSH councils are set to receive millions of pounds in extra funding, which should alleviate potential service cuts and council tax rises.

The Welsh Government’s provisional local government settlement will see every Welsh authority receive at least an extra 8.4% for 2022/23.

With the work of county councils having been highlighted during the pandemic, the move also coincides with more burden being placed on town halls across the country, who face paying the real Living Wage for care workers as well as factoring in the new teachers’ pay deal.

The Welsh Local Government Association, which represents all 22 local authorities, described the proposals as “one of the best financial settlements since the beginning of devolution, recognising the significant challenges which remain for council budgets.”

The settlement - the block grant annually from the Welsh Government - represents the bulk of all council income.But largely due to reductions during a decade of austerity, many councils have found themselves cutting some services as well as implementing politically unpopular council tax rises to make up some of the shortfall.

The Minister for Finance and Local Government said staff pay rises as well as living wage costs for care workers had been factored into the settlement.

Rebecca Evans MS went on to confirm that the core revenue funding for local government in 2022-23 will increase by 9.4% on a like-forlike basis, with no authority receiving less than an 8.4% increase.

Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson for Finance and Local Government, Llyr Gruffydd MS, welcomed the announcement.

But the Welsh Conservatives’ Shadow Minister for Local Government, Sam Rowlands MS, said: “Whilst we welcome these increases, they come after years and years of underfunding from the Labour government, especially for rural and north Walian councils.”