The Welsh Government is warning that, on average, working-age adults in Gwent and Monmouthshire could see a loss of income of hundreds of pounds a year by 2015/16 due to changes in welfare, at the same time Monmouthshire County Council has proposed a 3.95% rise in council tax.

New figures released by Ministers last week show that, on average, working-age adults in Wales will see around a £500 annual loss in their income, where Newport residents will loose £508 and those in Monmouthshire £394.

The average loss per working-age adult is highest in Blaenau Gwent, with some estimations reaching up to £600, and will lead to a considerable impact on the incomes of sick and disabled people.

But while Monmouthshire is accepting a relatively low loss of income across the country in comparison to others, with the rise in council tax, it is still expected to have quite a severe hit on those in need within the county.

Communities and Tackling Poverty Minister Jeff Cuthbert said, "Communities across Wales are being hit hard by the changes to welfare. Our latest research shows how decisions being made in Westminster will have a real difference on the money in the pocket of many families with a knock-on effect on their quality of life. The amounts we are talking about here will make a huge difference to the lives of some.

"Some of these cuts are hurting low-income families at the very time they are seeing their incomes squeezed and are struggling to cover their everyday costs. The reality is we are going to see many get worse off and the wider economy of many communities will also suffer as people have less money to spend on local services and local shops."

The announcement of these figures on changes to welfare, which have come from a series of reports commissioned by the Welsh Government in which they have looked at how the 14 welfare changes will affect individuals at both a Wales and local authority level, follows a meeting of Monmouth Cabinet to approve the budget for 2014/15.

As stated above, this includes a rise in council tax of 3.95% which, while it is lower than the 5% originally deemed to be a possibility, is still a financial hit on a lot of people across the county.

Not only this, but the budget also names some services to be subject to charges for the first time, which according to MCC is to protect front line services, education spending, increases in social services spending and meets a £9 million cut in Welsh Government funding. 

Councillor Phil Murphy, the council's cabinet member for finance, said, "We all know that Britain's public finances are in their worse state since the end of World War II.  But while others are spending time arguing about why this is the case and whose fault it is, we have chosen to spend our time responding to the challenge with purpose and in line with our stated priorities. 

"Our priority has been to see continued investment in things that matter to the people of Monmouthshire. That is why we are recommending a budget which safeguards our schools, vulnerable people – young and old, youth service, libraries, museums, leisure centres and adult learning programmes.

"Unlike most other councils, we are not closing things. We are working hard to keep services open and maintain the things that make our county special. This does come at a cost and we are asking people to pay a little more council tax (76p a week for a Band D household). 

"We are matching this by reducing the reserves that we hold as a council – this seems fair to us and we still expect our services to improve. Our major commitment to start building new secondary schools, the first in Caldicot and the second in Monmouth, remains".

"We are not just building a budget for one year – we have done the outline work for the next four, because we need to think into the medium term. The attitude and engagement of the people of Monmouthshire in this process over the last six months has been inspiring – you have told us about what matters to you and we have built our budget around this. 

"We are determined to continue adopting innovative approaches to maintaining as many services as we can. But I know that some of what we propose to do – especially around street lighting and litter picking – will be more visible to people in their day to day lives than the significant back office savings that we've already made."

The 2014-15 budget will now go to full council for a decision on February 27.