Budget 2023 2024 Consultation Report

What’s Going on with the Council Budget?

▪ Like other Councils in Wales, Pembrokeshire County Council continues to face significant budget pressures

▪ For 2023 – 24 we are facing an estimated shortfall in net revenue funding of £27.9 million. This is based on the assumption that we receive a 3.5% increase in our settlement from Welsh Government. Looking further ahead, our current estimate for the Medium Term Financial Plan 2023 – 24 to 2026 – 27 is a projected funding gap of over £60 million and this is likely to increase

▪ Understanding community priorities will help us make the difficult choices necessary in setting the Council budget for 2023 – 24 and beyond

▪ Over the past decade, we have successfully bridged a funding gap of £123.9 million. To do this we have already made very many budget savings, of the type you have suggested to us in previous years

▪ There has been an increase in the number of people needing our help – social care and homelessness are the areas we are seeing big increases in demand and associated costs

▪ We urgently need to recruit more qualified social carers, other care staff and foster carers, in order that we can continue to provide the right types of support for people who need them most

▪ Employment costs have increased, as a result of increases in minimum and living wages, as well as a significant increase in pay awards for all staff including teachers

▪ The amount we have to pay for things like fuel and materials has also risen - and forecasts suggests that, that increases are set to continue, as a result of Brexit, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine

▪ This also affects borrowing costs – we feel it is vital to maintain our investment in capital projects and work hard to keep borrowing for programmes such as building new schools within affordable limits

Pembrokeshire County Council’s budget has been further squeezed because:

For many years Pembrokeshire has had the lowest Council Tax (Band D) in Wales and continues to do so. When calculating the amount of grant to give to each Council in Wales, Welsh Government assumes we all generate Council Tax at the same average level. In Pembrokeshire we haven’t been doing this. This has meant our total funding to finance the budget (Welsh Government grant + Council Tax) has been considerably smaller in comparison with other Councils in Wales, including neighbouring Councils in Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion (in relative terms).

Please note that all figures given are initial estimates. These will change as we move through the budget planning process and initial assumptions are clarified.

There are a number of ways in which the funding gap can be met

We can make changes to:

The Budget Consultation

Proposals, for ways in which the funding gap can bridged, were made by County Council employees and members. The impact of the majority of the proposals for budget savings will be felt internally within the Council or only on specific groups of stakeholders. However, there were a number of proposals that will potentially impact on the way that services are received by the public. These were the proposals that were included within the consultation.

Please note that the proposals that appeared within the consultation represented only a small proportion of the total budget saving proposals. Figures given were indicative only but helped to show how the proposals could contribute towards bridging the funding gap for 2023-24. However, as the proposals may impact on the base budget they could help to contribute towards bridging the funding gap for future years as well.

CONSULTATION REPORT - the Consultation Report is now available to download on this page.

The Budget 2023 - 24 will be discussed at the meeting of the Council's Cabinet on Monday 13th February and set by Council at its meeting on Thursday 2nd March 2023.

You can find papers for these meetings and view webcasts at these meetings on our website at https://www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk/the-council-and-democracy