16/12/22

Cardiff residents are being asked for their views on possible changes to council services following the news that the local authority will still need to find £23.5m to balance the books in 2023/24, despite receiving a better-than-expected 9% increase in funding from Welsh Government.

A number of factors including rises in energy costs, spiralling inflation, demand pressures, and expected pay increases for teachers, carers and other public sector workers, mean the council's budget for delivering day-to-day services like education, social care, refuse collection, parks and libraries is set to cost £75m more next year than it will this year.

A public consultation on a series of possible service changes which could help make savings and raise income will open on Friday, December 23, and run for around five weeks until January 29. In it, residents will be asked for their views on possible changes to services to help bridge the gap.

Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance and Modernisation, Cllr Chris Weaver, said: "Just as every household budget across Wales has been impacted by the cost-of-living crisis so too has every service the council provides. It means that everything we do, every service we offer now costs significantly more to deliver.

"There's no doubt the better-than-expected 9% increase in funding from Welsh Government is good news. A few days ago, we were looking at a £53m hole in our budget, but thanks to Welsh Government making more money available this has now reduced to £23.5m. But this is still a huge amount of money to find, especially after cutting around a quarter of a billion from our budget over the past ten years.

"I want residents to know that we have already been making significant efficiency savings throughout the year to prepare for the financial storm we saw coming towards us, and next year we plan to make at least another £8.5m in efficiency savings.

"Although council tax will rise to help close the gap, we are working to keep that rise well below the rate of inflation.  Each percentage rise in Council Tax only brings in £1.6 million, so to set a balanced budget we will need to make considerable savings from services and income charges.

"The 9% budget increase received from Welsh Government means that we will be able to better protect important services like social care and school budgets. We are looking at increasing school budgets by £25 million next year, a 9.2% rise, and we will do everything we can to protect social services and the most vulnerable in our communities. It also means that many of the harder-to-face options we were having to consider are off the table for now, but we know there are still tough choices to be made, which is why it's so important residents take part in this consultation and tell us what really matters to them."

The consultation will ask residents a series of questions on a number of budget options including:

• Looking at new ways of operating St David's Hall, Cardiff International White Water, and the Museum of Cardiff (in the Old Library, on The Hayes) to reduce council subsidies
• Reducing operating hours at Household Waste recycling centres
• Restricting opening times of Hubs and libraries and using more volunteers to help run the service
• Increasing residential and pay and display parking charges
• Slightly reducing the subsidy on adults hiring sports pitches
• Increasing the price of the burials and cremation service, but by much less than inflation
• Increasing the cost of school meals, although we will continue to subsidise this service

Full details will be available to residents when the consultation opens online on December 23rd. Printed copies of the consultation in multiple languages will also be available in libraries, Hubs and council buildings in the New Year for anyone unable to take part digitally.

Once the consultation is completed final proposals will be brought to Full Council to consider in early March. 

Most of the council's current £744m annual budget - around 70% - goes on paying for schools and social services. Each 1% council tax rise brings in around £1.6m.

Cllr Weaver added: "Most of the money the Council receives comes from grants from Welsh Government. Only about 27% comes from Council Tax. The majority of our budget - over two thirds - is spent on running schools and social services. Without council tax many of the other important services we deliver could be lost or face severe cuts. An increase of 3% amounts to 77p a week on a Band D property, around £3.34 a month, but that would go some way towards helping us maintain the services our citizens rely on as we plan our way through the cost-of-living crisis.

"We intend to protect schools from cuts and have tried to ensure that whilst there might be some reductions in service or increased charges following this consultation, we maintain key services across the city as best we can.During difficult times, many of the city's residents, particularly the most disadvantaged, will also turn to the Council for support. That is already apparent given the huge increase in the number of people contacting the Council's advice service, which is up by 107% since April last year.

"Taken together, the Council is facing soaring demand pressures and spiralling costs resulting in a budget challenge as great as anything faced over the past 10 years."

You can read the full budget report  here.

A guide to the Council's 2023/24 Budget