Jobs will be lost and education funding cut if plans to give Ceredigion the lowest rise in Welsh Government funding are given the go-ahead, the council’s leader has warned.

Cllr Ellen ap Gwynn told Cabinet on Tuesday, 12 January, that the local government funding settlement from Welsh Government left Ceredigion at the “bottom of the list” with an increase of only two per cent – around £2 million – while the highest topped five per cent.

The settlement percentage rise for Ceredigion is the lowest of all Welsh authorities, just behind Wrexham at 2.3 per cent, and would leave the county with a £4.5m funding shortfall.

Cllr ap Gwynn said that the funding was “a kick in the teeth” for the county and would result in job losses and cuts to essential services which have already been “cut to the bone”.

A formal consultation period on the funding is underway, and Ceredigion MS Elin Jones has already called for a rise in funding to the county and the introduction of a ‘funding floor’ to ensure all authorities are given a rise of more than three per cent.

Cllr ap Gwynn said the draft settlement was “a real disappointment” and “bad news” for the county.

“Following a really tough year and the personal assurance of Julie James MS, minister for housing and local government, to all local authority leaders that we would have nothing to worry about in the next financial year, it was a real kick in the teeth to see that Ceredigion has only been awarded a two per cent uplift for 2021/22.

“Our projected cost pressures for next year are £6.5m against which the proposed uplift of two per cent will only give us £2m.

“This means a shortfall of £4.5m which will inevitably mean a further uplift in council tax and further cuts.

“At this level of cuts, we are going to have to look at losing staff and due to continuous cuts over recent years these cuts will inevitably fall on our care and education services, as all other services have been rationalised and cut to the bone already.”