What assessment has the Minister made of the impact that council tax rises will have on promoting prosperity and tackling poverty?
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. Local authorities have statutory duties to provide and maintain essential services to communities and elected members will be carefully considering how to strike a balance between providing those services and increasing council tax.
In making those difficult decisions I know that across Wales, local authority leaders, elected members and officers will strive to find ways to make the best use of limited resources to make the most difference in communities.
Along with the Welsh Government, local authorities 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. The scheme provides support to over 260,000 households with 211,000 of the poorest 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.