The Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government, Jayne Bryant, has announced that local authorities will receive £6.1bn from the Welsh Government to spend on delivering key services.
This substantial investment comes from the Revenue Support Grant and non-domestic rates and means the core revenue funding for local government will increase by 4.3% next year.
Vulnerable and low-income households will continue to be protected from any reduction in support through the Council Tax Reduction Scheme.
The Cabinet Secretary said:
“This settlement reflects our ongoing commitment to protecting core frontline public services as far as possible, supporting the hardest hit households and prioritising jobs.
“We have been through a long period of austerity, with huge increases in demand for major services, a pandemic, and an extra-ordinary inflationary period.
“We have been listening to local government to continue to understand the challenges they’re facing. The additional funding from the Autumn Budget, means we have been able to increase our overall settlement for 2025 to 2026 by more than £1bn.
“We know that even with this increase our councils will still have to make difficult local choices. However, no local authority will see an increase of less than 2.8% next year and we will continue to work with local authorities on areas where we might be able to provide additional funding by the time of the final budget.”
The draft Budget published by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language outlined increases to the general capital funding for local authorities to £200m, recognising the impact of inflation in recent years.
The Low Carbon Heat Grant has also been increased to £30m to support authorities with decarbonisation and to continue the focus on contributing to the Net Zero Wales plan.
The Cabinet Secretary added:
“It will take time for public finances to recover after 14 long years of austerity, but we will continue to work with our local authority colleagues to ensure the best use of resources and deliver for the people of Wales.”