Councils will be forced to shut services and cut jobs if extra money doesn’t come from central government, the leader of a Welsh council has said. Councillor Andrew Morgan, the leader of Rhondda Cynon Taf Council, said that without additional financial support, there won’t just be trimming or cutting services but the removal of some services.
He was speaking during an update on the council’s medium-term financial plan which was discussed by full council on Wednesday, September 28. The report showed that without extra funding, the budget gap for the next three years up to 2025-26 is predicted to be £77m and over £36m for next year alone based on a modelled council tax increase of 2%.
The council’s director of finance Barrie Davies said the council’s projections show a coming period of “significant financial challenge”. He said: “In the absence of additional funding, it is inevitable that there will be a need to reduce our services to close the budget gap that we face.”
