Leaders in Carmarthenshire will decide next month who will benefit from a £1.55 million cost of living support scheme which was announced in February. Councils in Wales shared a £25 million pot of Welsh Government money that month which they could use to target those they felt needed help the most.
Ministers issued guidance the following month, March, about how it could be spent along with a larger £152 million scheme providing £150 for all council tax band A, B, C and D households in Wales. The guidance said: "The schemes are intended to provide immediate support as Wales recovers from the pandemic and support households to deal with the impact of increasing energy and other costs." This is what people shopping in Swansea said about the much higher energy bills coming our way from October.
Asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service what its share of the £25 million fund was and whether a decision had been taken about how to spend it, a Carmarthenshire Council spokesman said it hadn't decided how to spend the £1.55 million sum yet, but that cabinet would do so next month. Council elections took place in May, but Swansea Council allocated its share of the £25 million fund before voters went to the polls. Payments in Swansea included an extra £28 for all council tax band A to D properties.
