FUNDING for all Gwent’s local authorities will fall in the coming financial year, with Monmouthshire to see the second-lowest handout in Wales under plans announced this afternoon.

The Welsh Government unveiled its draft local government settlement for the 2017-2018 financial year this afternoon, with Newport’s funding to fall 0.1 per cent, Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent to see their funding drop by 0.5 per cent each, the greatest decrease in Wales, and Caerphilly’s down by 0.3 per cent.

Although the grant for Monmouthshire County Council will fall by less than 0.1 per cent, it is second only to Merthyr Tydfil in receiving the lowest handout in Wales.

This is despite an overall increase in the cash handed out across Wales of 0.1 per cent.

The settlement is calculated according to a number of factors including an area’s population and how much the relevant local authority is able to raise through council tax. Monmouthshire County Council is considered to be able to raise more, therefore its proposed settlement is lower.

The proposed grants for Wales’ local authorities:

  • Newport: £209.01m, down £234,000, or 0.1 per cent.
  • Monmouthshire: £91.62m, down £23,000, or less than 0.1 per cent.
  • Torfaen: £128.75m, down £618,000, or 0.5 per cent.
  • Blaenau Gwent: £108.76m, down £546,000, or 0.5 per cent.
  • Caerphilly: £262,69m, down £731,000, or 0.3 per cent.

Blaenau Gwent is among four local authorities in Wales to receive extra top-up funding to ensure its grant does not fall by more than 0.5 per cent.

Wales’ finance secretary Mark Drakeford said: “The aim of this provisional settlement is to give local authorities the stability to manage the difficult decisions that lie ahead.

“We know that councils are delivering their services against a backdrop of austerity and this settlement provides a platform from which to plan for harder choices which will lie ahead.

“The changes we are implementing this year are based on the advice of an expert group comprised of local authorities and independent specialists.

“The package also includes additional funding to implement a minus 0.5 per cent funding floor which limits the impact on councils that would have seen the biggest reductions in their core funding.

“As a result, this is the first cash increase in the local government settlement since 2013-14.

“Under the funding floor, no council will have to manage on less than 99.5 per cent of the cash provided to them last year.

“When added to the other sources of income available to them, many councils will be able to increase their spending next year. “Within the overall settlement, councils will also receive £25m in recognition of the importance of strong local social services and the growing pressures felt by this service.

“This is a stable settlement in challenging times and will allow local government to set sustainable budgets despite constraints on public finances.”

Mr Drakeford’s draft budget for 2017-2018, released yesterday, contained an assumption of inflation of 1.5 per cent. If this is correct every council in Wales will see a real-terms drop in its funding.

More follows.