A council tax freeze together with a number of other proposals designed to help address the cost of living crisis and help the county borough recover, are on the cards for Neath Port Talbot residents next year.

Cabinet this afternoon, February 28, agreed the draft budget and corporate plan and a £2m Hardship Relief Scheme to combat cost of living crisis.

The highlight draft budget details are:

A freeze in council tax so it remains at 2021-22 levels;

An extra £6.364m for social care, taking the budget to more than £95.5m;

An increase of £4.2m for education of our children and young people, taking the budget to more than £125m;

£1.8m extra for Environment, taking overall spending to £43.8m;

A £5m increase to the capital programme to begin making improvements across neighbourhoods;

£2.8m for one off investments to support these priorities and Covid recovery, including:

• • £700k to give children and young people the best start in life – this includes a significant expansion of youth services to directly respond to what children and young people said was important to them in the ‘Let’s Talk’ conversation;
  • £1.5m to deliver a county borough wide range of projects to ‘catch up, clean up and green up’ our communities; and
  • £200k to develop strategies in relation to culture and environment, and leisure and tourism and additional support for jobs and skills.

£2m Hardship Relief Scheme to help those hardest hit by the cost of living crisis; and

£140m+ Capital Strategy