Today’s Comprehensive Spending Review will result in the most challenging period that public services have had to face for decades warns the WLGA today.
The real terms cut to the Assembly’s total budget (revenue and capital) announced today will be 12% over the next four years, with a 40% cut to capital spending – the highest cut of any of the devolved administrations.
The next few weeks will be crucial as local government awaits the Assembly’s decision over how it will allocate its own budget. Considerable uncertainty remains about where exactly the axe will fall and the WLGA is calling for local front line services to be fairly treated in the weeks ahead.
Cllr John Davies (Pembrokeshire), WLGA Leader said:
“The outcome of the CSR for the Welsh Assembly Government is a dramatically reduced public expenditure budget for Wales. Combined with service pressures and benefit cuts, the challenges for councils to maintain front line services will be extremely difficult. We won’t know what the precise impact for local government will be for some weeks, but the aim must be to ensure that core local services on which Welsh communities depend can continue to be delivered. The pain must be shared fairly across all parts of the public sector in Wales.
“All parts of the public sector will need to work together over the next period to try to mitigate the impact of cuts. The interdependence between all the different parts of the public sector should not be underestimated. No single part of the public sector can respond to these challenges in isolation and if not carefully managed, cuts in one service will unintentionally damage another, for example underfunding social services leads to increased pressure on NHS services.”
Cllr Rodney Berman (Cardiff), WLGA Finance spokesperson added:
“Local authorities have identified potential funding shortfalls over the coming four years and are looking to address these by transforming services and making further efficiencies where possible. We will have to wait for the settlement in November to know the actual figures, but identifying the shortfall and being able to bridge it are two entirely different things. Local services are at risk as councils face huge service pressures, especially in adult and children’s services. They are going to need as much flexibility as possible to manage their revenue and capital budgets in the next few years. Welsh Ministers have the power to give local government much greater freedoms to determine their own spending by removing the ring fencing from budgets and reducing regulation and inspection.
“I would urge them to be bold and radical in how they address these issues over the next few weeks, not least following the decision to remove the ring fencing of £4 billion of grants in England.”
