Our draft budget proposals have been written with the aim of protecting our most vulnerable residents, whilst continuing to deliver key services. The Council has taken a number of steps to make savings but we simply cannot pay for all of the services we need to deliver without the following proposals.
Here are some examples of how we propose to make the required savings in 2025-26.
Continue to review the way services are delivered to make them as efficient as possible:
- Reduce the number of buildings we operate and occupy in order to reduce running costs or save on rent.
- Review back-office structures and reduce staff in order to make efficiency savings where possible.
- Transfer ownership of some community facilities, such as sports facilities and community centres, to community groups.
Prioritise services that protect our most vulnerable residents
- 70% of the Council's budget last year was spent on social care and education
- The demand for and cost of delivering services that protect our most vulnerable residents is increasing year on year, leaving little revenue budget for delivering all of the other services the Council is responsible for.
Increase council tax by 6.9% (this would keep the Vale of Glamorgan below the Welsh average)
- Every 1% increase in Council tax provides the Council with an additional £1m worth of funding for services. If 6.9% is agreed by the full Council in March then the Council will need to find an additional £9.026m worth of savings through our budget strategy.
Increase charges for services in line with inflation
- Discretionary fees and charges for services will be increased in line with the rising cost to the Council of delivering this, in most cases this will be around 3%.
- This will reduce pressures on the Council's budget and help meet the required savings target of £9m
Introduce charges for some services
- Charges for some non-statutory services such as garden waste collections will be increased to come closer to cover the full cost of delivery