FAQs

The money received from Welsh Government is an increase of 3.3% from last year.  

However, demand for certain critical council services continues to grow rapidly, as does the cost of delivering many other services.  

All this means the Council is facing a significant budget shortfall of £8.045 million for next year. As a result changes are needed to bring its spending in line with its income.  

The Council is facing a projected budget shortfall of £8.045 million, this is the gap between the projected cost of delivering our services and the amount of money we have available. 

There are a number of reasons why the Council is facing a budget shortfall, including: 

Charges for some services could rise, including green waste collections and planning advice.

More sports and community groups would have the opportunity to gain greater independence by taking over the management of their facilities, an arrangement that has already proved extremely popular among bowls clubs and other organisations.  

A review of how some social care services are provided is another of the ways in which the Council could save money. A number of unused buildings could also be sold or transferred to community groups.  

There are also proposals to generate additional income. For example, linked to the Council’s Regeneration Programme and the successful Levelling Up bid that will see the creation of a marina in Barry, there is a plan to rent office space in the nearby Dock Office. 

Council tax provides approximately 33% of the Council’s overall budget. The Council provides hundreds of services to residents across the Vale of Glamorgan and the demand for and cost of delivering certain services is increasing year on year.  

71% of the Council’s net spend is on Schools and Social Services.  

Last year the cost of running schools and caring for vulnerable residents amounted to more than the total Council Tax paid across the year.

This means there is very little flexibility when the Council is setting its budget and difficult decisions must be taken on allocating the remaining funding to other services, like recycling and waste collections.  

Reserves are money that has been put aside to pay for something in the future or for emergencies. This money is a little bit like the Council’s savings account. The Council must be very careful in how it uses this money because once it’s gone, it's gone.  

There are two types of council reserves: 

Whilst reserves can be used to fund a shortfall on a short-term basis, they cannot be used to fund continuing spend (e.g., staffing costs) as they are one-off amounts of funding. Once they are spent, the council would be exposed to the risk that if some serious unexpected expenditure is necessary, there won’t be any money available for it. 

The Council plans to use £6 million of its reserves in 2025/26, £5 million investment in the Council's assets and £1 million will go towards supporting homelessness pressures.