Council tax rise planned to plug budget shortfall

Richard Evans, Local Democracy Reporter.

Council tax in a Welsh county is set to increase, with the authority citing another budget shortfall.

Denbighshire County Council’s (DCC) cabinet is set to discuss Welsh Government’s Provisional Funding Settlement for Local Government 2026/27 at a meeting next week.

The council is set to receive an increase of £10.841m or 5% – although DCC insists around £4.797m has been allocated for externally set staff pay increases.

Consequently, Denbighshire’s actual percentage rise is currently estimated as 2.7%, the ninth highest rise in Wales.

A 2.7% increase is higher than neighbours Conwy and Flintshire, as well as Gwynedd and Anglesey, who are all set to get a smaller percentage increase of 2.3%, the joint lowest rise in Wales.

Wrexham is expected to receive a 3% increase, the fifth highest in Wales.

By comparison, south Wales councils Newport, Swansea, and Blaenau Gwent are set to receive rises of 4.3%, 3.4%, and 3.3%, respectively.

Denbighshire County Council’s cabinet report states: “The current estimate of additional budget requirement for 2026/27 is £21.011m. This is more than the increase in funding the council will receive from the settlement from Welsh Government of £14.868m.

“A settlement of around 10% would have been required to fund all these pressures. Whilst the increase in the settlement is well above the planning assumption used in the latest version of the medium-term financial plan, is positive and welcomed, it does not resolve the financial challenges the council faces which will therefore still require an increase in the level of council tax and measures being taken to set a balanced budget in 2026/27.”

An agreement made before Christmas will see an additional £112.8m of funding allocated to councils in 2026/27, which is set to be published with the Final Welsh Government Budget on Tuesday, 20 January.

The cabinet will also discuss the matter at the authority’s Ruthin County Hall this coming Tuesday.