Homeless services are prepared for cuts as public services continue to take a financial hit.

Cash strapped councils across the country have been looking at cutting services and raising council tax as they struggle to make ends meet.

Denbighshire’s homeless plan which will be discussed on Thursday at a meeting of the communities partnerships committee will include plans for a 5% cut to its budget as a contingency.

But officers have said they are not expecting cuts to the service.

A report to members of the committee said: “The annual plan will also include a full annual spend plan for the supporting people grant; however it is not possible to produce a spend plan until our budget is confirmed by Welsh Government. While we do not anticipate any cuts in 2019/20, as in previous years however, we will contingency plan for cuts of 5%, including by negotiating efficiency savings, and re-configuration of existing services. We will always to seek to mitigate any cuts as far as possible through careful planning and negotiation with service providers and other stakeholders, locally and regionally.”

Richard Weigh, Chief Finance Officer for Denbighshire, said:  “Cost implications will become clearer as actions within the plan develop and should be contained within existing resources. Whilst Supporting People grant funding levels are thought to be fixed overall in the short term, changes to policy or distribution may have an impact in future. The council’s general approach is to pass reductions in grant funding through to the service area being provided.”