A GWENT council facing a £5.7 million funding gap is hoping for a financial boost next month.
The Welsh Government is due to publish its budget on December 10 and inform councils of their funding allocations for the 2025/26 financial year the following day.
Torfaen Borough Council has been working on the basis, made on the “best publicly available independent analysis”, the Welsh Government will increase local government funding by one per cent.
Council number crunchers have estimated its costs, for the new financial year, will increase by £20m to £252m but with some funding commitments already in place it expects that figure to reduce to £18.4m.
Planned savings, some use of reserves and a council tax rise of 4.95 per cent it has used for its calculations as well as the assumed one per cent rise have reduced that shortfall to £5.7m.
The council’s Labour leader Anthony Hunt said he would be “very disappointed” if the increase isn’t greater than one per cent.
He told the council’s cross cutting scrutiny committee it has been “right” to be cautious in its financial planning but is hopeful of seeing more money available for local government.
The UK Government budget has provided Wales an extra £1.7 billion known as a funding consequential of decisions made due to spending in England.
Asked if the council’s estimate was conservative, and the impact of local government missing out on additional funding Cllr Hunt said: “I will be very disappointed if that’s what happens with the Welsh Government budget when you look at the consequentials and the funding made available for local government, education and social care.”
He said he hoped the council’s figures will be “much improved” after it has received its budget settlement.
Finance officer Robert Green said: “We certainly hope one per cent is on the low side and we will have a better settlement than that.”
He said every one per cent increase in funding from the Welsh Government is worth around £1.7m and said: “One or two per cent more goes a long way towards that challenge we are facing”
The council has been grapplling with an overspend this year in its children’s services department, which latest figures show stands at £3.1m, but steps taken to address it are expected to further reduce costs over the coming year though the council will use reserves to make up a shortfall.
It expects demand for services, mostly for children’s and adult social services, to drive up costs by £4.6m.
A review of its early intervention and prevention programme, which the council says is intended to reduce duplication, is expected to save £2m by April. Communities director Dave Leech said he couldn’t share much information on that due to consultations with staff with the implications for their jobs exepcted to be known by January.
Schools are set to have an increase in funding to cover pay increases for teaching and non-teaching staff but will be expected to “absorb” non-pay budget pressures totalling £374,000 and the reduction in the Pupil Development Grant which the council had met this year.