The Caerphilly Conversation - Budget Consultation 2019 - 2020

Draft budget proposals for 2019/2020

On Wednesday 14 November, Cabinet Members considered draft savings proposals, along with a higher than anticipated council tax rise, totalling over £15.6 million, which is required if the council is to deliver a balanced budget for next year.

In October, Welsh Government announced its provisional budget settlement, which broke down how much money will go into public services across Wales. Under the settlement, Caerphilly County Borough Council faces a funding reduction of 0.3%.

This, coupled with inescapable pressures that the council has to fund, means that Caerphilly has to find savings for the next year alone (2019/20) totalling almost £14.7 million (£14.660m), with a higher than anticipated council tax rise being proposed to cover the remaining shortfall.

While the Chancellor, in his recent autumn statement, indicated that additional funds would be coming to Wales, it is currently still unclear if or how Caerphilly County Borough Council will benefit, with the council unlikely to know this until mid-December.

In its draft budget proposals for 2019/2020, the council is forced to consider proposals which include:

• Reductions in street cleansing, grass cutting and highways maintenance
• The closure of two Household Waste Recycling Centres
• Reduced spending on libraries, youth, adult services and day care provision
• Reductions in school budgets and school initiatives
• Increases in school meal prices
• The Community Safety Wardens service to cease
• Closure of public toilets and four community centres
• Cease Meals on Wheels service except for clients under section 117

The council’s draft budget savings proposals also include a proposed 6.95% increase in council tax in order to help the council meet its extremely challenging savings targets. The increase would equate to an annual increase of £73.51, or a weekly increase of £1.41 based on a Band D property.
 

Budget consultation:

These proposals were subject to a period of widespread public consultation, starting on Monday 19 November and running until Friday 11 January 2019.

A full list of the proposed savings for 2019/2020 can be found here: Draft Savings Proposals 2019/20 (PDF)

The budget consultation ended on Friday 11 January 2019. A number of savings proposals were reconsidered following feedback from residents and the budget for 2019/2020 was approved by Council on 21 February 2019. For more information: https://www.caerphilly.gov.uk/News/News-Bulletin/February-2019/Council-budget-for-2019-20-approved

Supplementary documents

• View the Equality Impact Assessments
• View the Budget Consultation Report 2019/20 and Annexes
• Special Regeneration and Environment Scrutiny Committee 18th December 2018 – Main Discussion Points MTFP Proposals
• Special Policy and Resources Scrutiny Committee 3 December 2018 – Main Discussion Points MTFP Proposals

Further information

Please contact us on 01443 864354 or by emailing communicationsunit@caerphilly.gov.uk.