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Pay and pension rises for teachers will “turbo-charge” the financial squeeze on Swansea Council, the authority’s chief finance officer has said.

Ben Smith said these rises agreed at a national level would cost the council an additional £7 million next year and £10 million the year after, assuming they are introduced in full from next September.

He said the Welsh Government was set to contribute only £606,000 towards pay rises for teachers in Swansea next year.

Addressing full council, Mr Smith these pressures were examples of a “turbo-charged” financial year ahead, which also included ongoing demographic pressures and rising demand for adult social services.

He said Swansea’s overall share of the draft Welsh Government budget in 2019-2020 indicated a tiny rise compared to this year of just £18,000.

“It ain’t enough to fund the pressures,” he said.

“I will have to say that I think this will be the hardest year ever.”

Like other councils in Wales, Swansea has had to make significant savings over the last four years or so.

Cabinet member for care, health and ageing well, councillor Mark Child, said: “We are making some very difficult decisions, as far as care homes and day centres go.

“However, we cannot continue on this track indefinitely.”

Council leader Rob Stewart said he anticipated a shortfall of some £20 million next year, half of which he said was the result of unfunded pay rises for public sector workers.

“We will continue to prioritise education and social care, but there is no service in this council that can be protected,” he said.

Leader condemns minister's Oliver Twist comments The leader of Swansea Council said Wales’s Local Government Secretary should "hang his head in shame" after he compared councillors to “Oliver Twists” who wanted to have some more. Speaking at full council, Labour’s Rob Stewart said he was unable not to mention Mr Davies’s “ill-judged words”. Cllr Stewart said he would take one of the “biggest begging bowls in Wales” to Mr Davies when he met him on November 1. “Politics is about respect — we should be able to have a mature debate,” said Cllr Stewart. “Sometimes it feels that we don’t have a Cabinet Secretary for Local Government." He added: "He should hang his head in shame.” The Welsh Government has published its draft budget for 2019/20, which council leaders complain will penalise authorities while the Wales NHS gets all the additional funding. Mr Davies told a BBC radio debate: “I’ve had a lot of councillors coming to me like Oliver Twists over the past few weeks — ‘Can we have some more?’.” The minister said the current number of 22 local authorities in Wales was unsustainable and that councillors were “unwilling to say that publicly” but agreed in private. He also said councils in England had experienced worse cuts than those in Wales. Cllr Stewart said he agreed, but added: “Being slightly better off than those (councils) across the border is not good enough. “It’s like being in a hospital bed, and the doctor says he has good and bad news — you’re going to die, but not as quickly as the person in the bed next to you.” He said social care, which is the responsibility of councils, and health were one service and that favouring one over the other “will imbalance the system”. Addressing councillors, Unison representative David White urged the Welsh Government to change its approach before AMs set the budget and asked what council leaders were doing to fight their corner. Mr White added: “The Oliver Twist comment — does it show a lack of understanding?” Some council leaders said First Minister Carwyn Jones should consider sacking Mr Davies. Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services, Vaughan Gething, said: “We should avoid language that draws us into a pointless confrontation. “We need to reset the relationship and be far more respectful, collaborative and supportive of our local authorities and councillors. “Our councils are ‘complaining’ because of the direct consequence of Tory austerity.”

Swansea Council's forecast overspend this year stands at £8 million, but there is still time to bring this figure down.

Referring to the Welsh Government’s draft settlement and local Government grants, which are yet to be agreed by AMs, Cllr Stewart admitted that the situation could have been worse.

“We are better off than we were told we were going to be last year,” said the Labour leader, who also criticised the UK Government for its austerity policy.

“But £18,000 better off in cash terms is not enough.”

(Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency)

Cllr Stewart said the Welsh Local Government Association, which represents councils, was asking the Welsh Government for an extra £54 million for 2019-20 to reflect the 1% increase in money he said it had received from Westminster.

Liberal Democrat councillor Peter Black said he felt it was reasonable for Cardiff Bay to pass on this 1% increase to local Government.

“The Welsh Government is being short-sighted here,” he said.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond is delivering his budget on October 29, prior to the Welsh Government publishing its final budget on December 18.

Individual councils will then start finalising and agreeing their budgets prior to the start of the 2019-20 financial year on April 1.

Swansea Conservative leader, Lyndon Jones, said the Tories had delivered a dividend to Wales with a settlement which equated to £120 spent here for every £100 in England.

Cabinet member for better communities, councillor Mary Sherwood, denounced the financial situation she felt Welsh councils were facing.

She added: “There is a lot of money in the UK — it’s the sixth richest nation on the planet.”