Budget settlement news prompts warning over council services

News that Bridgend County Borough Council is set to receive a 2024-25 budget settlement increase of 3 per cent has led the authority to warn that it is now impossible to avoid major changes for some council services.

As the settlement is below the current UK inflation rate of 3.9 per cent and represents an increase in funding of £7.4m against known budget pressures of £28m, the council will need to take urgent action if it is to meet its legal obligation of delivering a fully balanced budget for the year ahead.

Councillor Hywel Williams, Cabinet Member for Resources, said: “For 13 consecutive years, local councils have been forced to make cuts and deliver savings as a result of experiencing the full impact of national austerity measures combined with Brexit, the global pandemic, increased costs, additional customer demand, and the ongoing cost of living crisis.

“Food and energy bills for public buildings such as schools and day care centres have risen, higher numbers of vulnerable children and adults now require essential care and support, and councils have to meet the additional cost of salary and pension increases for teachers and other staff.

“Similarly, the cost of materials for works ranging from constructing new schools or maintaining existing infrastructure such as the highways network have all significantly increased, and since March 2020, we have seen a 237 per cent increase in demand for temporary accommodation for the homeless.

“National media is full of stories warning that this situation has now reached breaking point, and that there is a real risk of one in five English councils and a quarter of Scottish councils effectively going bankrupt in the next two years.

“Bridgend County Borough Council is not immune to these challenges, and having already done everything we can to protect local residents from experiencing the brunt of cuts over the last 13 years, we are now at a stage where this is no longer possible.        

“While we will, of course, ensure that all of our funding is used effectively and efficiently, we should also all be prepared to make some particularly hard and unavoidable decisions before the council’s final budget is agreed for 2024-25.”

Council Leader Huw David added: “While a glance at the news headlines will tell you that this is a national problem, not just a local issue, research by the Welsh Governance Centre has highlighted that Welsh Government has received nearly £800m less in funding for 2024-25 – a total loss of £1.5bn in real terms and after accounting for inflation.

“This is clearly bad news for local government. As a council, we provide more than 800 different services that range from education, social care for children and older people and supporting the homeless through to implementing regeneration projects, undertaking school modernisation programmes and much, much more.

“We already face huge financial pressures in areas such as Home to School Transport and Social Services and Wellbeing, so it is important to be entirely realistic about the fact that some very difficult decisions will need to be made for next year’s budget.

“We are going to have to look very closely at everything we do, including the level and frequency of each service, and determine whether changes are necessary.

“That is why this year, more so than ever before, we need the residents of Bridgend County Borough to take part in our forthcoming budget consultation, and to tell us where you think our resources should be prioritised.

“Details of how you can do this will be announced early in the new year, but in the meantime, you can find out more by visiting the ‘Council budget challenges explained’ page at www.bridgend.gov.uk.”