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Members set to debate budget for 2025/26
Published: 21/02/2025
Councillors will be asked to approve the budget for 2025/26 which addresses significant financial pressures while continuing to provide vital services.
The proposed budget, which seeks to close a funding gap of £18 million, will be discussed by Cabinet on February 24 before being presented to full Council for approval later that day.
As part of the process, members will also be asked to approve a Council Tax uplift of 9.5%. This includes an increase of 8.93% for Council services and 0.57% for contributions to North Wales Fire and Rescue Service and the Regional Coroners Service.
Leader of the Council, Councillor Dave Hughes, said: “This is undoubtedly a difficult decision, but it is vital that we continue to meet the growing demands of our community.
“As a result of nearly two decades of underfunding from national governments, Flintshire County Council has had to reduce its spending by £125m.
“Nearly 70 per cent of the Council’s money comes from Welsh Government and despite continuous lobbying to ministers, Flintshire is once again one of the lowest funded Councils in Wales. If we received the Welsh average, we would be £173 better off per person which amounts to around £26.9 million overall.
“Like the rest of Wales, we continue to be exposed to increasing demand for services such as homelessness, social services and Streetscene. This demand is not easing and we will continue to put pressure on Welsh Government to receive fair funding for the people of Flintshire.”
On Thursday, Welsh Government announced a guaranteed 3.8 per cent funding floor for all local authorities which will increase the funding for nine councils including Flintshire. As a result, Flintshire County Council will receive an additional £1.2m which has been recommended to be included as a contribution to our contingency reserves.
Deputy Leader, Councillor Richard Jones, said: “It is important that we use the additional funding from Welsh Government to create some resilience within our contingency reserves. This would leave us with a contingency of around £3.9m. While this sounds like a lot of money, it is significantly less than we have had in previous years.
“We would of course love to have used the funding floor to reduce the proposed Council Tax increase but the risk is too high. The demand for social care, homelessness and out of county placements is growing and is out of our control. It is imperative that we have reserves to cover any unforeseen financial issues in these areas.”
Due to the scale of the budget challenge, all departments were asked to identify further savings which has led to a cost reduction of nearly £3.3m alongside a reduction in cost pressures of £2.6m.
A 2.5 per cent reduction on schools’ delegated budget is also being proposed, however the budget still provides a net uplift of nearly £7m for schools.
Cabinet member for Finance, Councillor Paul Johnson, said: “The financial challenges we are facing are unprecedented and we have worked extremely hard to consider all options. We understand an increase in Council Tax will have an impact on residents and this decision has not been taken lightly. However, without this increase, alongside significant cost savings from across the council, we would not be able to protect the essential services that our communities rely on.”