June 23, 2026 - 343 views
The Welsh Government has unveiled a £294 million First Supplementary Budget, setting out new investment in housing, healthcare, schools and support for families as it says it begins delivering on its programme for government.
Published today (Tuesday, June 23), the budget allocates hundreds of millions of pounds to what ministers describe as their key priorities, including cutting NHS waiting times, expanding childcare, increasing the supply of social housing and helping families with the cost of living.
Among the headline measures is £20 million to boost the supply of social housing, £40 million to improve school buildings and £5 million to support community facilities across Wales.
Young people are also set to benefit from £10 million to help keep bus and coach travel affordable while improving transport services. A further £2 million has been allocated to the Cynnal child payment scheme, with another £2 million aimed at giving more children the opportunity to learn to swim.
The supplementary budget also confirms a series of major spending announcements made over the past week.
These include a £145 million investment in the NHS, announced on June 18, designed to help reduce waiting times by expanding capacity across the health service. The package includes £25 million for new surgical and diagnostic hubs to speed up cancer treatment and diagnostic testing, alongside £20 million for essential maintenance work at hospitals and GP surgeries.
The government has also pledged £55 million to help hundreds more families access funded childcare for two-year-olds, while a further £15 million will extend free school meals to more secondary school pupils from families receiving Universal Credit from the start of the new school term.
Cabinet Secretary for Finance Elin Jones said the spending package reflected the priorities on which the government was elected.
“This government was elected with a clear mandate and is delivering on it responsibly and at pace. This supplementary budget demonstrates that commitment – spending with purpose, with every pound working harder for Wales.
“We have inherited significant pressures – in the NHS, in childcare, and across public services – and we are transparent about that.
“This Supplementary Budget concentrates resources on our clearest priorities: cutting NHS waiting times, expanding childcare, extending free school meals, and easing cost-of-living pressures for families.”
The Finance Secretary said the budget was about improving public services as well as providing additional investment.
“This is about more than new funding, it’s about beginning to reshape how our public services work after 27 years of a previous government.
“This new government will ensure that every pound delivers better outcomes – better childcare, better healthcare and better public services for the people of Wales.”
The First Supplementary Budget will now be debated by Members of the Senedd before a vote on July 14. If approved, the funding will be released to departments over the coming financial year.
