The cost of national insurance increases could leave Welsh public services facing a shortfall of up to £65m because of the way in which the nation’s funding rules are calculated, UNISON has stated.

The union is calling on the UK Government to play fair on its funding of Wales. It wants ministers to think again about whether the Barnett formula – used to allocate public funding to devolved administrations – is the best way to compensate the nation’s public services for the national insurance increase.

When employer national insurance contributions go up on Sunday (April 6), all additional costs for public services in England are set to be covered by the UK Treasury, says UNISON.

But the formula that chancellor Rachel Reeves is using to give additional money to Wales will leave the Government in Cardiff millions of pounds worse off, says UNISON. This is because the size of the public sector is comparatively larger in Wales.

This extra funding shortfall will place additional pressure on vital services in Wales, which are already under terrible strain, says the union.

UNISON Cymru/Wales secretary Jess Turner said: “Our plea to the UK government is to treat Wales fairly. If public services in England are to be covered for the coming national insurance increase, then those in Wales must be too. But that additional cash can only come from Westminster.

“The Treasury is effectively penalising Wales because of the comparatively larger size of its public service workforce.

“Fifteen years of underfunding has placed public services under intolerable strain. A shortfall of millions of pounds will harm the quality of public services further still and place the Welsh workforce under even greater pressure to do much more with much less.

“More broadly, it’s clear the way Wales is funded within the UK needs to be reviewed.”