Welsh Government warns of 'very difficult year ahead' despite extra funding in final budget

Finance Minister Rebecca Evans revealed the Welsh Government will have more money to spend than expected, although she still warned of "a very difficult year ahead." Credit: PA Images/ITV Wales

The Welsh Government has set out how it will spend £190m of extra funding from the UK Government.

Its plans include an extra £14m for local councils and £10m for retraining programmes which could be available to any Tata steelworkers made redundant under the company’s current plans for its Port Talbot plant.

Much of the budget decided by Welsh ministers comes in a direct grant from the UK Government as a share of spending on programmes in England.

A priority is to protect "core services," such as the NHS "as far as possible," said Rebecca Evans. Credit: PA Images

The Welsh Government says it has had confirmation from the UK Treasury that its 2024-25 budget will include an extra £230m.

When its spending plans were first announced before Christmas, health and local councils were the only protected areas in a draft budget full of what ministers described as difficult choices made to balance a budget that is worth £1.3 billion less than the point it was set in 2021 as a result of inflation.

Finance Minister Rebecca Evans said that the “budget proposals for 2024 to 25 have been designed to protect the core services we all rely on, as far as possible” and added that “We have restructured our spending plans to focus funding toward frontline NHS services; to the local government settlement, to protect funding for schools, and to maintain Basic Payment Scheme payments for farmers next year.”

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The Final Budget now also includes:

  • £14.4m for local government to help it meet pressures in social care and schools. The Welsh Government is also reversing cuts to the social care workforce grant and to the children and communities grant.

  • £10m for “apprenticeship and employability programmes” including offering help for any steel workers made redundant by Tata’s current plans for Port Talbot.

  • £40m of capital funding for the NHS

  • £30m for Holyhead Breakwater.

  • £20m for small and medium-sized businesses

The Welsh Government has been given more money than expected by the UK Government in Westminster. Credit: PA Images

But Rebecca Evans said difficult decisions would still need to be made, saying that “Even though we will be spending more in these core areas, our public services face a very difficult year ahead as they manage the twin pressures of increased demand and costs.”

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