This week, Bridgend Council is finalising and set to approve its budget for the coming financial year.
Click the numbered tabs below to move to the next section.
This year’s budget comes off the back of one of the best local government settlements in a long time due to funding boosts from the UK Government which have in turn been passed on by the Welsh Government.
This is likely to be a one-off due to a mix of the Covid-19 recovery, the aforementioned better-than-expected funding boost from the UK Government and May’s local elections.
The number and range of cuts needing to be made this year are significantly lighter than previous years, but Bridgend Council still needs to find around £631,000. Depending on future financial settlements, BCBC expects to make around £20.4million worth of cuts between 2023-24 and 2025-26.
There remain around £12.6million worth of stubborn budget pressures the council is seeking to resolve (pdf).
Some of the largest budget pressures involve the knock-on impact of living wage uplifts (£3.96million in total), home-school transport (£2.47million), workplace pressures in children’s social services (£1million) and ongoing pressures from the Covid pandemic (£1million).
