While eagerly awaiting the local government settlement at the end of 2024, Welsh councils were yet again called on to respond to widespread damage and disruption wrought by appalling weather conditions.
Successive storms Bert and Darragh battered all parts of the nation as local authority teams worked tirelessly, alongside colleagues in the emergency services, to support residents, communities and businesses.
From setting up and managing overnight shelters, to helping to evacuate people, clearing debris and working to minimise risk to the public, dedicated council workers in all parts of the country went above and beyond the call of duty to urgently respond to the effects of ferocious winds and flooding.
Councils are now leading on the longer-term recovery efforts to respond to badly damaged infrastructure and ongoing flood risk in many places.
It was against this backdrop that the Welsh Government announced its draft local government settlement.
Councils in Wales will receive an average funding increase of 4.3 per cent in 2025, representing £6.1 billion in real terms, alongside a range of other previously announced additional funding packages.
As Leader of the Welsh LGA, I warmly welcome the Welsh Government’s commitment to supporting local government.
Notably, this settlement was the first since the new UK Chancellor’s Autumn Statement; extra funding announced for Wales has enabled the Welsh Government to inject more than £1 billion extra in additional cash for councils than would have been the case under the previous UK administration.
This is a statement of intent to be welcomed, which will help to maintain essential local services in our communities.
Nevertheless, more than a decade of savage cuts and lack of investment in the public sector cannot be undone overnight in one settlement.
Ever-rocketing service demand and costs will continue to strain councils’ finances and their ability to balance their budgets.
We are also pressing colleagues in the UK Government for urgent clarity around support for employers’ National Insurance contributions, to give councils certainty in budget planning.
Local government is wholeheartedly committed to continuing to work in close partnership with the Welsh and UK Governments to secure essential local services for the future, so that they are still there to support those who need them.
I’m particularly grateful to Jayne Bryant, Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government, for her close engagement with us, and will look forward to continuing our constructive dialogue during the settlement consultation period to explore introducing a funding floor to support those authorities receiving less-than-average increases.
The outlook across the public sector is teeming with difficulty, including the crisis in social care, public finances, and climate change, to name but a few.
But as councils across Wales continue to support communities in the wake of brutal winter storms, I am reminded that local government is a key part of the solution to the defining challenges of our age because of its intimate local knowledge, ability to mobilise at speed, and role in delivering national policy.
In an uncertain world, these qualities will mark local government as an indispensable partner to UK and Welsh Governments alike.
To find out more about the work of the Welsh LGA, please visit their website.