Have your say on our budget proposals
Isle of Anglesey County Council is asking you to give your views on its budget proposals before making a final decision in March 2025 on the council budget and the level of Council Tax for 2025 to 2026.
Online survey
The survey is anonymous and you will not be asked to say who you are or where you live.
The closing date for the survey is Friday 7 February 2025.
Go to the online survey (opens a new tab in your browser)
Background
Please read this important background information before completing the survey.
Continued financial pressure
Isle of Anglesey County Council has continued to face significant financial pressures in 2024 due to continued rising demand particularly in social care, dealing with a rising number of pupils with additional learning needs and homelessness services.
Although the general level of inflation has fallen to more normal levels, pay costs continue to rise at a higher level than the general level of inflation and, as pay is the council’s largest cost, this is a significant cost pressure.
The pressure on pay is not only impacting on the council, but also its main contractors (refuse collection, school meals, highway maintenance, care homes and homecare). The pay pressure results from increases in the national living wage and in the need to address the recruitment difficulties.
Contractors cannot absorb these additional costs and they are passed onto the council.
Similar position for all councils
The Labour government’s first budget in October 2024 resulted in a greater than anticipated level of funding for Wales. However, the additional funding provided to the 22 councils by Welsh Government does not cover all the cost and demand pressures faced by the councils.
The budget also created an additional cost for the council and its contractors due to the changes in employer national insurance contributions. This change is estimated to add around £5m to the council’s costs.
Welsh Government grant
The total Welsh Government grant to Wales is proposed to increase by 4.3% but each council’s grant is calculated using a formula and this has resulted in Anglesey only receiving an increase of 3.6%.
Isle of Anglesey County Council is legally required to set a budget which is fully funded from the Welsh Government Grant, Council Tax and the council’s own cash balances. In 2024, the Welsh Government grant funded 69.3% of the council’s budget, with 28.3% being funded from Council Tax and 2.4% being funded from cash balances.
In order to provide the same level of services as 2024 to 2025, but taking into account the anticipated prices increases and changes in the demand for services, it is estimated that the council’s net revenue budget for 2025 to 2026 would have to increase by £15m, which is 8.1% higher than 2024 to 2025.
After allowing for the 3.6% increase in the Welsh Government grant, it would require Council Tax to rise by 20% to allow this level of spending to be funded.
Council looking to limit Council Tax increase
Isle of Anglesey County Council understands the difficulties that such a rise would cause its residents and is therefore proposing to reduce the budget increase to £11m and to use £2m of its own cash reserves.
This will then require Council Tax to be increased by 8.85% plus 0.65% to fund the increased contribution the council has to make to the North Wales Fire and Rescue Service.
The proposal will increase the charge for a Band D property by £149.40 or £2.87 per week, although this will still leave Anglesey with one of the lowest Band D charges in Wales.
Council reserves
The proposal will leave the council with around £10.5m of general balances, which equates to 5.4% of the net revenue budget for 2025 to 2026.
Although the level of general balances can be lower than this figure, lowering the level of reserves below this figure does increase the risk that the council could become insolvent in future years and would have to issue a statutory notice to that effect.
Detailed report
You can also read a detailed report on the council’s budget proposals before you answer our survey. The link will open a new tab in your browser.