The Vale of Glamorgan Council is facing a cut to its budget for the next financial year, as has been the case for the last six years. Since 2010/11 the Council has reduced its overall budget by £49 million. The latest figures show that the Council needs to save a further £10.6m in 2018/19, which is a 5% reduction of our overall budget. At the same time as having to deal with these financial challenges the demand for, and cost of, delivering key services such as education and social care continue to rise.
Council tax provides 30% of the Council’s overall budget with the rest coming from the Welsh Government and other grant schemes.
The Vale of Glamorgan receives one of the lowest settlements in Wales per head of the population, meaning there is added pressure to reduce the cost of delivering services.
The average settlement across Wales amounts to £1,320 per head of the population. This compares with Vale of Glamorgan settlement of £1,167 per head of the population. This difference in funding levels is increasing year on year.
Our low funding settlement impacts negatively on how we are able to fund key services like education. For 2017/18 the average funding per pupil in Wales is £5,628, whereas the Vale funding per pupil stands at £5,022. This gap in expenditure per pupil is also increasing year on year.