Welsh councils face funding challenge over the next 12 months

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00:00Okay then, thank you. Yeah, while we are grateful for the uplift, which obviously is positive

00:07compared to what we were feeling the worst in terms of the budget settlement could be

00:12as low as a zero or a 1% rise, clearly the figures show that it only meets around half

00:18of the actual demand in the coming 12 months, which means there is going to be significant

00:22pressure on local authorities. And unfortunately, at a time when we will see council tax then

00:28going up, we will see a number of local authorities having to make a reduction in services. And

00:33to say this is on a backdrop of continuous high demand, in particular in social care.

00:38So we are seeing continued growth and complexity, both in children and adult social care support

00:44needed. And that is coming at an extreme budget pressure. There isn't probably a local authority

00:50in Wales in the current financial year, which isn't overspending on its social care budget.

00:55And that is obviously factoring through into our budget planning for next year. And when

00:58it comes to council tax, most local authorities I'm aware are in the range of probably 5%

01:05or upwards for budget planning, at least at this stage. We are acutely aware of the pressure

01:10on residents in terms of cost of living. So it is a real dilemma for local authorities

01:16and how we manage to protect the statutory services, trying to provide those additional

01:21services, the non-statutory that the residents do ultimately still value and rely on at a

01:27time then of not hiking council tax to an excessive level. So the next 12 months is

01:32going to be a challenge, no doubt.