Public consultation ahead of Cardiff Council budget proposals

Cardiff Council Cabinet will meet next week to consider a report recommending that public consultation can begin, before proposals for the 2022/2023 budget are presented next month.
It comes after the Welsh Local Government’s interim financial settlement was announced in December, under which Cardiff Council would receive a 10.7% increase in general revenue funding. Although this represents an additional £ 52.6million in terms of cash, from this Cardiff Council is required to cover the cost of a number of areas of additional expenditure, including the actual salary in the care sector, increase in national insurance from April and ongoing Pressures linked to COVID-19.
At present, Wales councils can claim the additional costs and lost income associated with the COVID-19 pandemic from a Welsh Government’s local authorities hardship fund, set up for the financial year 2020/21. This hardship funding is expected to end this year, and council budgets will need to cover the current financial pressures of COVID-19 starting in April.
For fiscal year 2020/21, claims from the Cardiff Council Aid Fund amounted to £ 47.7million for expenses and £ 38.2million for loss of income. For the first two quarters of this fiscal year, April through November 2021, the council’s tough expense claims total £ 18.7million, with income claims totaling £ 9.9million.
Finance, Modernization and Performance Cabinet Member Cllr Chris Weaver said: Resources. The results of the consultation will play a key role in shaping the details of Cardiff Council’s 2022/23 budget proposals. These proposals will then be presented to Cabinet and Council review committees next month, before a vote by the full Council in March. “
Local government budgets will also have to cover other growing financial pressures, including the payment of the real living wage in the care sector, announced by the Welsh government in December.
Cllr Weaver added: “This year’s 10.7% interim financial settlement for Cardiff is welcome, after a decade in which the council has had to find £ 200million in savings. We are grateful to the Welsh government for supporting local authorities during the pandemic and in this budget. However, we know that many budgetary challenges remain, as the city grapples with the long-term effects of the global pandemic and growing financial pressures in other areas, such as the healthcare sector. The Council must therefore continue to strengthen its financial resilience and build a solid budgetary position to move forward.
“It is important that we hear from as many people, from as diverse backgrounds as possible, to help us develop our budget proposals for the coming year, and I encourage everyone to participate in the consultation as soon as it opens.
“Subject to Cabinet approval, the consultation will begin on Thursday 13e January and end on Friday 4e February. We will solicit the views of a wide range of stakeholders, and put a particular emphasis on engaging with children and young people, an approach that is consistent with our ongoing work to make Cardiff a Unicef city. Child friend.
All the details on the modalities of access to the consultation survey will be published at the end of the Council of Ministers next Thursday 13eJanuary.
The Welsh Government’s provisional regulations include initial details of the funding for Wales-wide grants, including those associated with the recently announced plan by the Welsh Government to expand the provision of free school meals; an increase in the subsidy for child care; and an increase in the Student Development Grant. Further details on how the Wales-wide grants will be allocated to 22 individual local authorities, including Cardiff Council, are expected to be released by the Welsh government in the coming weeks and months.
In addition to general revenue funding and grant funding, Cardiff’s interim capital settlement represents a 2.7% increase in general capital funding for 2022/23, or just under £ 500,000.
The report considered by Cabinet can be downloaded in full at
www.cardiff.gov.uk/meetings.