Let's Keep Talking - Together we are NPT

In 2025-26 the total budget for Neath Port Talbot is £405.374m. Despite huge financial pressures, the 2025-26 budget will see no significant cuts to essential services like social services, housing and specialist education for which demand is soaring. 

The headlines include:

• Council Tax - there will be a 7% increase in Council Tax which represents (across all bands) an average increase of £2.15 per week.

• The majority of the budget will be invested in education and schools, social services, housing and community safety, including:
  • Education and Lifelong Learning (ELLL) Directorate - £121.129m for the delegated schools budget and £34.331m into the ELLL Directorate – an increase of £14.671m for schools and £1.206m for ELLL compared to last year.
  • Social Services, Housing and Community Safety Directorate – an investment of £127.219m, an increase of £13.520m or 11.9% compared with 2024/25.
  • Environmental Health Team - an additional investment of £110,000 to fund two additional members of staff specifically to start addressing issues with ruinous and dilapidated commercial buildings.

     

From 10 to 31 January 2025, we ran a public consultation on our draft budget proposals for 2025-26. We received 507 completed questionnaires. In total 659 people engaged in the consultation.

Thank you all for your feedback. Here are some of the things you told us… 

Budget consultation questionnaire responses - what we heard

The draft proposals

Respondents were given the opportunity to provide their opinion on whether they agreed or disagreed with any proposals outlined in the draft budget report. 

Disagreement

Of those who noted that they disagreed with certain aspects of the draft budget, some of the main themes included:

1. Council Tax increases - the primary concerns were linked to:
   • financial burden 
   • value for money 
   • fairness 
2. Service cuts and quality - respondents were concerned about possible reduction in various services and the impact on their quality of life, including:
   • waste collection
   • road maintenance
   • educational support
3. Financial management and efficiency - there was a call from some for better financial management and efficiency within the council, suggestions included:
   • staff reductions - reduce the headcount 
   • expense management - cut unnecessary expenses and focus on essential services
   • seek additional grant funding
4. Impact on vulnerable groups – some felt the proposals would have a disproportionate impact and lead to increased stress and financial strain on vulnerable groups, such as elderly people, low-Income families and people with disabilities.  

Agreement

Of those who noted that they agreed with aspects of the draft  budget, some of the main themes included: 

1. Rationalisation and efficiency - including:
   • rationalising buildings – e.g. consolidating office spaces and reducing the number of buildings maintained by the council
   • reviewing contracts – to ensure value for money and to eliminate unnecessary expense
   • efficiency in service delivery – reviewing how services are provided to ensure they are delivered efficiently and effectively, e.g. reducing duplication of work, focusing on core service delivery.
2. Cost recovery and income generation - including
   • full cost recovery - for services provided to external organisations
   • increasing fees and charges - for certain services, such as leisure centres and social care, especially for those who can afford to pay more
   • grant funding: applying for more grant funding to bring in additional resources without increasing the financial burden on residents
3. Protecting essential services
   • Some comments support ring-fencing funding for essential services such as social care and waste management
   • Education Funding - there was agreement on the need to protect and potentially increase funding for education
   • Service Improvements - some comments suggested that any increase in Council Tax should be accompanied by improvements in service quality to ensure residents get value for money

Council Tax

We asked how supportive people would be of a Council Tax rise to help protect/avoid cuts to services provided by the council. Responses were as follows: 

Supportive: of the 58 respondents who indicated they “agreed” or “strongly agreed” with the proposed increase, 40 (69%) gave reasons for their response.  

Some of the main themes for why they would be supportive included: 

• Maintaining services
• Fairness and responsibility - this revolved around the perception of fairness in the proposed tax increase, i.e. ensuring that those with higher property values contribute more
• Economic realities and budget constraints - acknowledging the financial challenges faced by the council, including a significant budget gap and an understanding that the proposed increase is necessary to avoid deeper cuts to services. 

Unsupportive: of the 393 respondents who indicated they “disagreed” or “strongly disagreed” with the proposed increase, 334 (85%) gave reasons for their response. Some of the main themes for why they would be supportive included: 

• Financial hardship and affordability - the proposed increase is seen as an additional burden that many cannot afford
• High existing Council Tax rates - some respondents feel that Neath Port Talbot already has one of the highest council tax rates in Wales, and further increases are seen as unjustifiable, especially when compared to other local authorities
• Perceived inefficiency and waste - there was a strong sentiment that the council is not managing its resources efficiently. Respondents believe that there is significant waste and that high salaries for council employees are not justified. They call for better internal reviews and cuts to non-essential departments before increasing taxes
• Declining quality of services - many respondents felt that despite paying high council taxes, the quality of services provided by the council is declining

Suggestions for income generation and reducing spending 

Respondents were asked if they have any suggestions on how the council can reduce the budget gap through income generation and/or reduce spending. Responses fell into the themes of suggestions provided to generate income or reduce spending:  

Income generation 

• Leverage public assets 
• Increase local taxes and fees 
• Apply for grants and funding 
• Develop commercial opportunities 
• Promote/develop tourism and cultural events 

Spending reduction  

• Implement efficiency improvements
• Review and optimise services
• Shared services and partnerships
• Energy and resource efficiency
• Reduce non-essential expenditures
• Volunteer and community involvement 

Who we heard from

• 94% (475) of respondents said they were residents of Neath Port Talbot
• 1% (4) were aged under 25; 17% (89) were aged 65 years or above, and 79% (382) were between 25-64 years
• 53% (255) said they were Female; 37% (181) were Male; 1% (3) were Transgender Male and less than 1% (2) were Non-binary