Local authority revenue and capital outturn expenditure: April 2017 to March 2018

Revenue

In 2017-18, total gross revenue expenditure by Welsh local authorities increased by 1.3% to £8.0 billion. Although this followed two previous years where expenditure fell, it continues the broad picture seen since the economic downturn at the turn of the decade of reduced growth in expenditure. Gross revenue expenditure per head was £2,560 or £24 higher than the previous year.

Prior to the impact of the recession and the subsequent austerity measures, annual increases of 5% or 6% were regularly reported but since 2010-11 in only one year has growth exceeded 2%.

This has had a varying impact depending on the service areas, although changes in classification means analysis over time should be taken with caution. In general, statutory services such as education and social services have been protected (with social services having seen the biggest increase in expenditure) but other services such as libraries, local environmental services, roads and transport and planning have seen overall reductions since 2010-11. Education and social services now account for 62% of overall unitary authority expenditure compared with 59% in 2010-11 and 60% in 1999-2000.

Capital

Capital expenditure increased by 5.5% in 2017-18 to £1,174 million or £377 per head of population. This represents an increase of £61 million over the previous year.

In general, capital expenditure is more volatile and can be impacted heavily by large investments or adjustments. The increases in 2017-18 were largely due to further increases in capital expenditure in education, which now represents 37% of capital expenditure. In contrast, since 2010-11 the share of capital expenditure spent on transport has fallen from 21% to 12%.

Most of this capital expenditure was spent by unitary authorities, with police fire and national park authorities reporting expenditure of £40 million, £12 million and £2 million respectively.