Council approves final budget proposals

This week, Torfaen council approved its final budget and set council tax levels for 2026/27.

The Leader of Torfaen Council, Cllr Anthony Hunt, said:  "Thanks to prudent financial management, we have succeeded in bringing a balanced budget to council which invests in our schools; invests in early intervention and prevention; cares for the most vulnerable;  invests in roads and protects front line services; maintains a fortnightly general waste collections and weekly recycling collections and allows us to support local community groups and clubs where they help us deliver our Torfaen Deal.

"It also ensures we lead the way on being a fair employer; expands our apprenticeship scheme; and benefits our lowest paid staff like teaching assistants, school canteen staff, care assistants and refuse and recycling workers and avoids large numbers of redundancies. This is not a budget of gimmicks, quick fixes, social media soundbites or knee-jerk decisions that just store up problems for future years."

The council will receive £58.6 million from council tax in 2026/27 which represents around 16% of the council's funding.

To help residents most in need of support with council tax, the council administers a Council Tax Reduction Scheme, that helps nearly 10,000 residents on low incomes. 

Cllr Hunt added: "The financial forecast remains challenging with a £10.2 million funding gap to be met over four years from April 2027, but thanks to extra money from Welsh Government this year and the work we’ve done to drive efficiencies, this is a positive budget that avoids cuts to services and has enabled a lower increase to council tax than was first proposed.  

"Keeping council tax down is consistent with our approach over the past four years, where bills in Torfaen have risen less than anywhere else in Wales – meaning Torfaen now has the fourth lowest bills in the country."

The budget includes:

• £4.5 million or around a 5.5% increase to meet schools pay inflation and cost pressures
• A £300,000 annual budget for schools IT maintenance and replacement
• £250,000 to support current apprenticeships and £400,000 for new school leaver apprenticeships
• £1.6 million to maintain services for around 952 residents accessing Adult Social Care.
• £600,000 from reserves to reduce demand for care placements in Children’s Services
• £260,000 to build capacity in the community and support young people not in education, employment or training. This is for Community Capacity building also.
• £447,000 to meet inflationary pressures on the Council Tax Reduction Scheme based on current 9,321 cases
• £617,000 to meet funding pressures in School Transport and additional learning needs
• £346,000 for schools to improve support for children with additional learning needs.
• £700,000 to fund the impact of the real living wage for the lowest paid council employees
• Around £2.3 million towards wider staff pay inflation 
• £147,000 to address cost pressures in the Waste Service with £183,000 additional investment in the Waste Education and Enforcement Team
• £170,000 to help young people and families experiencing domestic violence and £200,000 to help prevent children from entering care
• Help for the borough's social care providers to meet increases in the Real Living Wage.

Over the next five years over £73 million will also be invested in the borough in the form of capital works. Next year the council will be investing in a range of capital projects including extending and refurbishing Ysgol Bryn Onnen, a new Waste Transfer Station and a further £2.4 million investment in highways maintenance including roads and pavements.

Funding is also being allocated to several community initiatives including grants for sports clubs and match funding for community activities with Members Choice money supporting a community Spring Clean. It was also agreed that budget underspend this year would be used to create a reserve to invest in the communities priorities for The Torfaen Deal.