Have Your Say on the Council’s plan to find budget savings

Carmarthenshire County Council is once again facing a significant shortfall in its budget for the coming financial year.

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS OUR BUDGET CONSULTATION.

Following a provisional funding increase of 4.1% from the Welsh Government, announced on December 10, Carmarthenshire County Council still needs to bridge an estimated shortfall of around £18million in its 2025/26 budget.

The Council has a legal responsibility to set a balanced annual budget, by ensuring that income from sources such as the Revenue Support Grant (RSG), the Council Tax, paid-for services and grants is enough to cover its expenditure.

The online survey, which has gone live today (19 December 2024), gives residents an opportunity to express their views on, for example, council tax increase, educational transport, public conveniences, and some cultural and leisure services. These will be considered alongside 90 detailed operational proposals, such as building costs, efficient use of vehicles, digital efficiencies, staffing structures and internal and back-office functions. The detailed list will be discussed in full at the next Cabinet meeting, which will be held on Monday, 13 January 2025. This meeting can be viewed via a webcast on our website.

Very difficult decisions lie ahead of Carmarthenshire County Council. We are now inviting residents, businesses, community and voluntary organisations to have their say on new policy saving proposals, drawn from across all Council services. As an Authority, we have worked hard to limit the number of policy changes put forward for consultation this year to lessen the impact upon our residents.

Cabinet Member for Resources, Cllr Alun Lenny said: 

Carmarthenshire County Council, like all other Welsh local authorities, is having to make very difficult budgetary decisions. This is mainly due to factors outside its control, such as inflation, and substantial increase in national insurance, nationally agreed pay settlements, and the amount of annual funding increase from the Welsh Government.  

The council gets 75% of its income to fund essential day-to-day services such as social care and education in grants from the Welsh Government, which in turn gets an annual block grant from the UK Government. Only 16% of the Council’s remaining income comes from the Council Tax.  

Despite a provisional funding increase of 4.1% from the Welsh Government for 2025/26 there’s been a substantial increase in demand for council services, in addition to the inflation and pay pressures. As a result, efficiency savings together with a Council Tax rise must be made to set a legally balanced budget. 

It is important that the public engages with us on the set of proposals that we have published today. I fully appreciate that these may prove unpopular and therefore responding to the survey is important.”  

The timing of our consultation is in line with the UK Government’s budget and Welsh Government’s provisional budget.

Councillors will consider the views expressed in this consultation alongside operational proposals to the value of around £7.5million when the budget is finally approved by Full Council in March 2025.

People can share their views online or by visiting a council customer service Hwb in Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford town centres.

The budget consultation closes 26 January 2025.