On 27th January, the Senedd voted on the Welsh Government’s Final Budget for 2026/27. The vote passed with 25 votes in favour, 13 votes against, and 14 abstentions.
Plaid Cymru abstained on the final budget, as part of their budget agreement with the Welsh Government, which included additional funding for health and local government. All of the documents relating to the Welsh Government’s Final Budget for 2026/27 can be found here. The detail for each department can be found in the Final Budget Expenditure Line Tables spreadsheet.
As per the budget agreement with Plaid Cymru, health and local government have received the most significant increase in funding. No further detail has been provided about social care funding in relation to the Real Living Wage commitment, but we will be writing to the Welsh Government on this matter.
Clarification about Housing Support Grant and Homelessness Prevention Grant allocations
The Housing Support Grant and Homelessness Prevention Grant are both in the Homelessness Support and Prevention Budget Expenditure Line (BEL). However, the detailed allocations do not appear in the budget documentation. Following clarification from the Welsh Government we can now confirm the following:
The Homelessness Support and Prevention BEL received an additional £2.6m in the final budget. We have now been told that it has been allocated as follows:
- Housing Support Grant (3.27% increase compared to 2025/26): The Cabinet Secretary has asked for the additional £2.6m to be allocated entirely to the HSG. This means that the HSG has been increased by £6.69m since 2025/26 (taking it to £211m in total), which is an increase of 3.27% compared to the 2025/26 budget.
- Homelessness Prevention Grant (2% increase compared to 2025/26): The HPG remains as it was at Draft Budget, with a 2% increase compared to the 2025/26 budget.
Analysis
It is really disappointing that the increases to the HSG and HPG are not closer to the 12% that we called for in our Home Matters report.
Budget agreement: We have been told that Plaid Cymru deliberately steered clear of making specific policy asks in their budget agreement with the Welsh Government, hence why the budget deal is based on two high level commitments for health and local government. This is likely due to Plaid Cymru wanting to distance themselves from Welsh Labour in the lead up to the Senedd election, and avoid accusations from other parties that they are too ‘cosy’ with Welsh Labour, particularly as they are advocating for people to vote for change and elect them as the next Welsh Government.
Final Budget: Although we are really disappointed that the increase was not higher, the HSG is one of only three areas in the Housing and Local Government expenditure group that received an increase of more than £1m in the final budget, which shows at least some prioritisation. Aside from increase to the local government Revenue Support Grant (as agreed in the budget deal with Plaid Cymru), the only other area that received an increase of more than £1m is fire services, which shows that there was very little additional funding for the Cabinet Secretary to allocate. It is however, extremely frustrating that the HPG did not also receive a similar increase to the HSG in the final budget.
