Proposal to cut Women’s Aid funding withdrawn by Ceredigion County Council

​Faced with cuts of £25 million to its budget over the next 3 years, Ceredigion County Council has recently undertaken a detailed consultation about proposals to generate more income for the Council and to make some cuts to services.

The results of the consultation will be presented to the Council’s Scrutiny committees and then to Cabinet on 28 July 2015.

One of the proposals that has attracted much interest is the proposed cut of up to £30,000 of the Council’s funding to West Wales Women’s Aid. It was subsequently acknowledged by the Council that the written introduction to the proposal was potentially misleading and an Addendum to correct the text was issued. Despite the Addendum, the Council is of the view that there is still a significant risk of misunderstanding and confusion about the actual proposal. For this reason, the Cabinet has taken the decision not to proceed with this proposal, and cuts to West Wales Women’s Aid will not be considered at the Cabinet meeting or indeed for this year.

The Leader of Ceredigion County Council, Ellen Ap Gwynn stated that “the service provided by West Wales Women’s Aid is too important for the Council to make any decisions based on information that may have placed them at a disadvantage. We are facing very difficult choices, and whilst the Council has done everything in their power to avoid front line cuts, the following months and years will see unprecedented pressure on us to make unpopular decisions.”

Councillor Ellen Ap Gwynn added, “We are happy to continue to support Women’s Aid in Ceredigion, but as well as directly funding their family worker service, we also administer an annual grant from the Welsh Government, which means that West Wales Women’s Aid receive a quarter of a million pounds towards their core costs from the Council.”