The Vale gives value for money: 3.9% rise in council tax

The Welsh Assembly tries to protect Local Government from the austerity cuts as much as possible, in contrast to the situation in England, where Parliament has sough to shift responsibility for budget cuts in services to the Local Authorities,  and presumably some of the blame.

As a result the average council tax for a  band D property in an English unitary authority is £1484.

In Wales the average is £1088, and in the Vale of Glamorgan it’s £1069.

A council tax rise of 3.9% in the Vale doesn’t look too bad by comaprison, especially compared with the Local Government Association predictions of council tax arrangements for 2016-17 in England.

There, 89% of Local Authorities, (LA’s), expect to increase Council Tax, 40% of council say that their budget will lead to cuts in services that are visible to the public, and 82% will be digging in to their reserves. Jonathan Carr-West, the Chief Executive of the Local Government Information Unit, (LGiU), said in a recent report, “Local government finance is a mess. Our research shows that right now councils are cobbling together their finances by using reserves and increasing charging wherever they can.

Despite a 2.2% cut in funding from the Assembly the Vale of Glamorgan has by contrast managed to protect its most vulnerable residents by increasing the social care budget,( adding an additional £2.2m to ensure funding to look after older residents), and to ensure that schools are funded above the SBA, (including finding an additional £1.2million to meet the changes in employers National Insurance contributions so that schools don’t have to fund it).