Powys County Council is facing a 1% cut in its funding from the Welsh Government for next year.

Delivering details of the draft provisional settlement for Welsh councils for 2019-20 Alun Davies, Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services, announced that overall council funding will be cut by 0.3%, to £4.21bn.

All councils are facing real-terms cuts to their budgets but Powys joins the Isle of Anglesey, Conwy, Flintshire, Monmouthshire and Gwynedd as the worst hit, all facing the maximum 1% decreases.

Alun Davies said: "Last week we set out the context for this year’s local government settlement – the uncertainty surrounding the arrangements for leaving the EU, the forthcoming UK autumn budget and the UK Government’s planned spending review in 2019, as well as the continuing constraints on public spending.

"All of these factors form the backdrop for local authorities’ own budget-setting processes for the coming financial year. 

"After the announcement of the final budget last year, authorities were facing the prospect of a 1.0 per cent reduction in core funding for 2019-20, equivalent to a £43 million reduction in cash terms.

"We have worked hard, across government, to offer local government the best settlement possible in this ninth year of austerity.

"As a result, the £43 million cut has been reduced to less than £13 million, including floor funding, which equates to a reduction of 0.3 per cent on a like-for-like basis compared to the current year.

"The draft budget last week also included a series of additional grants for local government, including £30 million for social care and £15 million for education and the restoration of other funding streams where cuts had previously been announced.

"While we have worked hard to offer local government the best settlement possible, we recognise this settlement is a real-terms cut in core funding, at a time when authorities face real pressures from an increase in demand from an ageing population; pay awards and other inflationary pressures.

"As we have made clear in discussions with our colleagues in local government, we recognise the pressures they are facing and will continue to do all we can to shield them from the worst effects of austerity.

"The UK Government will publish its budget on 29 October. In the event of additional funding being made available to Wales, local government will be a key priority for that funding."

Councillor Emlyn Dole, the Welsh local Government Association's Plaid Cymru Group leader, expressed 'disbelief' at the settlement.

"For councils across Wales, it is difficult to stress the sense of disbelief at today’s provisional settlement. The Welsh Government has promised more powers and more flexibilities to councils over the past two years but have again siphoned off money for core services into a range of specific grants to spend on their pet projects.

"In addition, it appears that local government has been using the wrong tactics over the recent period: rather than carefully balancing our budgets and delivering huge cuts, perhaps we should have run huge deficits, like the NHS, who are constantly bailed out and rewarded.”

Cardiff will see the greatest cash increase, at 0.4%, while Merthyr Tydfil and Rhondda Cynon Taf will see a 0.3% increase.

Newport and Neath Port Talbot will also see a 0.2% increase.

More follows.