Budget Cuts of 1.5% Unveiled For Flintshire in Welsh Gov Settlement

Local authorities across Wales have found out their expected settlements for the next financial year – with Flintshire County Council facing financial cuts of 1.5%.

In a statement released today by the Welsh Government it has been unveiled that Flintshire will receive £184.743 million for 2016/17. This a decrease of 1.5% compared to the £187,535 million which the authority received in 2015/16.

Nationally the 22 local authorities in Wales will receive more than £4billion, which includes £35m to ‘continue the Welsh Government’s commitment to prioritise schools funding’. An extra £21m is included for social services across Wales.

Flintshire Council had been preparing for financial cuts of up to 8% and has recently undergone a consultation asking for public opinion on how the authority can make savings of £21 million between 2016/17.

Announcing the provisional Revenue Support Grant (RSG), the Leighton Andrews said: “I propose to set Local Government revenue funding at £4.099 billion, a decrease of 1.4% or £57million compared to 2015 16. This is a considerably better settlement than Local Government was expecting and is good news for local services in Wales.

“We have protected the funding for Local Government in Wales over the course of this Assembly term. As a consequence of UK Government decisions since 2010-11, spending on local services in England has decreased by around 10% in cash terms, while in Wales it has increased by 2.5%.

“In setting council tax levels for 2016-17, I urge Local Authorities to think seriously about the funding challenges they face and to balance this with a consideration of the financial burden on households.”