Officers are employees working for the council. They manage and deliver the work of the council and help councillors put their policies into action. In most councils there are thousands of officers working for example as teachers, care workers, librarians, refuse collectors, town planners and food safety officers. The Council is managed by a Chief Executive and Senior Management Team who work closely with the political leader of the Council and the Cabinet.
Officers are politically neutral professionals, specialists in their field, with a duty to give councillors impartial advice to help them make the right decisions. As a councillor you would need to form good professional relationships with them and to respect their knowledge and experience even if you don’t always agree with them.
Although most people think that council tax is the main source of funding for councils, on average across Wales, it actually makes up around 25% of council income. Most people don’t realise that the ‘Council’ tax bill they pay each year also contributes to local police, community and town councils and fire and rescue services.
Most local councils’ funding comes from the Welsh Government, by means of a Revenue Support Grant (RSG). Councils also generate a small amount of income through charges and fees, such as car parking, leisure centre charges or planning fees.
Councils’ budgets are shrinking, at a time when needs are increasing due to population growth so councils are having to make difficult decisions around service cuts and job losses. However, they are also exploring new and different ways of working such as delivering some services digitally or working with local community volunteers.
"Agreeing a budget has never been easy but local councillors play a hugely important role in helping to prioritise and balance community needs against the money that is available. It is a difficult but vital role. We are faced with a reduction in budgets year after year resulting in cut after cut in services, especially in the non-statutory sector which involves services valued by so many of our constituents i.e. public toilets.
We were elected to represent our community and to improve services, the lack of funding inevitably causes stress and bitterness especially when it affects your community or services close to one’s heart."
Some of the expensive services councils provide like education, social services and housing have, by law, to be provided to certain standards. This means that the majority of council budgets have to be spent on these services. The Council must then make decisions about how to fund important services such as maintaining the local environment, libraries, leisure centres and the arts.
Local Councils
There are 22 local authorities in Wales with some 1254 councillors. The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) who has developed this website represents them all.
Welsh Parliament
There are 40 constituency Members of the Senedd (MS) and 20 Regional Members of the Senedd (MS).
The Senedd or Welsh Parliament is often confused with the Welsh Government. The Senedd is the Welsh Parliament and scrutinises the Welsh Government and makes laws.
Website: www.senedd.wales/
The Welsh Government consists of Welsh Ministers and sets the national agenda for Wales in the areas of (for example) local government, social services, education, the environment, planning, transport and economic development.
Website: www.gov.wales/
UK Parliament
The UK Parliament scrutinises the UK Government and makes laws on non-devolved matters. There are 40 Welsh MPs.
Website: www.parliament.uk/
Although local government, education, health and other public services are devolved to Wales, the UK Government impacts on local government through non-devolved matters such as policing, the benefits system, post-Brexit funding and the setting the UK Budget, which impacts on the amount of public sector funding available in Wales.
Website – Office of the Secretary of State for Wales Office of the Secretary of State for Wales - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Community and Town Councils
There are 735 community councils and around 8000 community councillors in Wales. There is a community or town council in many but not all communities.
They deliver services such as maintaining playing fields, parks and open spaces, village halls, allotments and cemeteries. One Voice Wales, the organisation that represents them has more information on their website.
In some cases councillors sit on both a county council and a community or town council. Local authorities work closely with their local community and town councils to deliver services to local people.