FLINTSHIRE and Wrexham council leaders have reacted with fury to the draft Welsh Government settlement for 2025/26.
The settlement, announced on Wednesday, determines the money Wales’ 22 local authorities will receive to fund core services for the next year.
Both local authorities saw their funding pot increase under the Barnett formula which decides the settlement level. However, Flintshire was once again in the bottom four with an increase of just £8.7m – or 3.3% – as it was awarded £274,779,000.
Wrexham was closer to the middle of the pack, with an increase of 4.4% – equivalent to £10.5m. It will receive £249,511,000 in total.
Flintshire County Council leader Dave Hughes said the Barnett formula was broken and said that it had been a significant factor in engineering the council’s precarious financial position – it is battling with a £38.7m budget gap – over a number of years.
“We’re in this position because we’ve been using our reserves to make up the difference because we have not had the funding levels we should have over a number of years,” he said.
“I’m disappointed with the settlement. Our settlement increase is 19th out of 22 in Wales and it has consistently been 19th in Wales for years.
“The Barnett formula needs looking at because it is broken. It’s totally out of date. Our situation won’t change until the formula changes. It needs to be revised to be more fair. It works against us all the time.
“We are grateful for getting an increase but we haven’t got enough. Some councils are looking at redundancies. We are not, we are looking at making the savings we need to through efficiencies to stave off redundancies and keep the services going the best we can.
“We will be analysing the detail and looking at what add-ons come in down the line but we are not happy with this.”
Wrexham council leader Mark Pritchard said the settlement leaves councils with a ‘Sophie’s Choice’ over council tax increases or service cuts.
“This is a disappointing settlement which does not address the £560m gap in Welsh council funding for 2025-26,” he said.
“Local authorities have a statutory duty to present balanced budgets. To achieve this, they could now be forced into a ‘Sophie’s Choice’ situation to meet the shortfall – either to look again at council tax levels to raise revenue, or to consider cuts to everyday services to lower expenditure.
“This would be in addition to the impossible decisions that councils are already taking due to the scale of the funding challenges and a chronic lack of investment in the public sector.
“It is clear that the position is unsustainable. I urge the Welsh Government to reflect on the settlement and explore all avenues available to them to invest in our essential local services. It is only with long-term, sustainable funding that councils can support residents, communities, and businesses, and help to deliver national ambitions.”
Announcing the settlement, Jayne Bryant MS, Welsh Government Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government said: “We have again prioritised protecting core frontline public services as far as possible, supporting the hardest hit households and prioritising jobs.
“We have worked closely with local government throughout the year and understand the pressures local government is facing. I welcome the improved level of funding from the UK Government as well as the pragmatic way Welsh Government is working with local government to ensure we do all we can within the funding available.
“It is not appropriate for the Welsh Government to set an arbitrary level of council tax increase. The setting of budgets, and in turn council tax, is the responsibility of each local authority. Authorities will need to take account of the full range of sources of funding available to them, as well as the pressures they face. I encourage councils to continue to carefully balance these pressures with the impact of increases on household finances.”
