Cwestiwn ysgrifenedig WQ91148

Council tax provides a significant and stable contribution, year after year, towards the cost of hundreds of local services such as schools, housing, and social care, many of which are vital to the poorest and most vulnerable people. Stable public services promote prosperity and tackle poverty. Pembrokeshire Council has statutory duties to provide and maintain essential services to communities, and its elected members will be carefully considering how to strike a balance between funding those services and increasing council tax.

In making those difficult decisions I’m sure that the leader, elected members and officers in Pembrokeshire Council will strive to find ways to make the best use of limited resources to make the most difference in their communities. a job made all the more difficult after more than a decade of Conservative austerity, a botched Brexit, and the disastrous Truss mini-budget.

Along with the Welsh Government, all local authorities in Wales will continue to do everything they can to support vulnerable people through this cost-of-living crisis - helping them to access the financial support they are entitled to and providing targeted help to those who need it the most. There is a range of support in place to help people who are finding it difficult to pay their council tax bills. For example, we provide £244 million a year to support local authorities in delivering the Council Tax Reduction Scheme. In Pembrokeshire, the scheme provides support to over 9,000 low-income households with over 7,500 households paying no council tax at all. I urge anyone struggling to pay council tax to seek help from their local authority, or contact Advicelink Cymru on 0800 702 2020.