Speaking in this week’s debate on the Welsh Government’s Draft Budget for 2020-21, North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has again challenged the Welsh Government over its Local Government Funding Formula, which has penalised local authorities in North Wales.
Mr Isherwood said that although the UK Government’s prudent economic management since 2010 has reduced the UK deficit to less than 2 per cent of GDP, below the average now amongst the G7 economies, enabling the UK Government to boost the Welsh Government budget, Councils in North Wales are still not receiving a fair share of the settlement.
He said: “Four of the five bottom local authorities in terms of funding increases are again the same authorities in North Wales - Conwy, Wrexham, Flintshire and Anglesey - whilst Monmouthshire remains bottom. The Local Government Minister repeatedly states that the splitting up of the Local Government Settlement between Local Authorities is done by the democratic processes of the Welsh Local Government Association. However, as senior Councillors in North Wales have told me, cross-party, the losers do not want to openly challenge the funding formula on the basis that, in order to gain, other Councils will have to receive less. Therefore, in a ‘Turkeys don't vote for Christmas’ attitude, they would not receive any external support.
“Nonetheless, Council Leaders in North Wales have written to the Leader of the Welsh Local Government Association stating that the benefits of this provisional settlement are not shared sufficiently fairly and leave most of the Councils in the North with a settlement significantly below the net cost of pressures, inflation and demographic change.
“And in a letter to the First Minster, the leader of Conwy states ‘it is a great concern that the Aggregate External Finance position across Wales is in a wide range of between 3 per cent - the worst - and 5.4 per cent - the best. The span of 2.4 per cent is the highest it has been for a number of years’.
“Writing to the Local Government Minister, Julie James, the Leaders of all six North Wales Councils, cross-party, state that ‘in the light of continued challenges for the 2020-21 financial year’ they ‘wish to ask for a funding floor of 4 per cent in the Local Government Finance Settlement, to be met from Welsh Government reserves’, because, they say, ‘for the 2020-21 provisional settlement, four of the five bottom councils are from North Wales’ - so ‘without a floor, most North Wales Councils will be faced with the biggest challenge in terms of seeking cuts to services. A floor will help to protect services and work against the above-inflation Council Tax rises in the bottom six councils’.”
Mr Isherwood also spoke of the need to see an end to false economies, “which see key early intervention and prevention services delivered by the third sector starved of funding, adding millions to the cost pressures on statutory services”.
He said: “Responding to the cash flat settlement for the Housing Support Grant in the Welsh Government’s Draft Budget – a cut in real terms – Cymorth Cymru, Community Housing Cymru and Welsh Women’s Aid warn that services preventing homelessness and supporting independent living have now reached a tipping point. As a Supported Living service provider in North Wales told me last Friday, ‘the consequence will be increased pressure on the NHS, A&E and Blue Light Services’ – adding that this, combined with the Welsh Government’s planned redistribution of Housing Support Grant, ‘will be devastating in North Wales where five Local Authorities stand to lose between 25% and 40% of their funding to South Wales’. I hope that this is not allowed to happen”.
