Covid: Councils 'face challenging future' after pandemic costs

Wales' councils deliver over 700 local services including waste and recycling services

Councils face a challenging future after extra costs and lost income caused by Covid-19, the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) has said.

Chief executive Chris Llewelyn said councils had "never seen a crisis like this".

Wales' 22 councils saw a combined loss of about £325m in the first six months of the pandemic, Audit Wales has found.

Costs have increased by £165m, driven by social care, education and free school meals.

Tackling homelessness and providing personal protective equipment have also added to expenditure.

Income levels have fallen by £160m, with leisure and cultural services seeing the biggest drops.

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The Welsh Government has made nearly £500m of additional funding available to councils through the local government hardship fund.

Fourteen of Wales' 22 councils responded

BBC Wales's Newyddion programme asked all 22 authorities in Wales about the impact of the pandemic on their individual finances.

Marlene Davies, an associate of the University of South Wales and expert in public finance, said councils had faced high costs after changing a number of their activities to accommodate the health and safety of the public.

"There will inevitably be changes in service provision due to the need to ensure social distancing, no-one knows how long this pandemic is going to go on for," she said.

Council services include libraries and leisure facilities

"When the first lockdown came in March, there were additional activities to ensure public health and safety.

"Some services were curtailed, leisure centres closed, amenities such as refuse recycling centres were closed initially until measures were put in place to ensure social distancing.

"The same applies to schools and staggered opening, all of which costs money."

"We've never seen a crisis like this"

Many councils have warned that the pandemic is making their financial position more uncertain.

Flintshire said "managing the budget in a changing and fast moving climate is proving very challenging".

Caerphilly said the "initial package of [Welsh Government] funding was welcomed, but there remained considerable uncertainty in respect of additional funding for the remainder 2020-21".

Ceredigion said it was "difficult to make financial forecasts," while Gwynedd described its financial situation as being "very challenging".

Free parking has left a hole in Carmarthenshire's budget

Carmarthenshire council is one authority that has seen a significant drop in income from parking charges.

It offered free parking for six months to help boost town centre businesses, but that has left a £1.1m hole in the budget.

Hazel Evans, the executive board member for the environment, said: "We normally get £2.5m from car parking which is used to improve the car parks, the highways, and to give subsidies to buses that cover rural areas that would not be commercially viable.

"Something, somewhere has to be affected."

'Very unpredictable'

The WLGA's chief executive Mr Llewelyn said the current situation made it very difficult for councils to plan financially.

He said: "The truth is we've never seen a crisis like this.

"It's very unpredictable, we don't really know what's going to happen next.

"Authorities are doing their best to plan for the circumstances they face, but the truth is it is very challenging."