Council spends over £2 million on translation for foreigners

Figures uncovered by a Conservative councillor in Cardiff reveal taxpayers in the city are footing a seven-figure (£2,047,975) bill to translate materials for people who cannot speak English.

The sums, disclosed in response to written questions tabled by Cllr Calum Davies, show that Cardiff Council over the last five years spent £1,145,525 of public money on pre-booked interpretation services, while £506,034 was used for instant interpretation services. Meanwhile, a further £396,416 went on translating documents between English and foreign languages.

When it came to interpreting services, Arabic topped the table with £314,446, far ahead of next placed Czech and Bengali on £125,631 and £96,289, respectively. £72,932 was spent on translating documents to and from Arabic alone, while Czech and Bengali hoovered up a little over £41,000 each.

Materials translated on an annual basis include the budget consultation and the Ask Cardiff survey that evaluates citizen views of the Council. The Council has a webpage and animated video called “Tips on applying for a school place in Arabic”.

With the average Cardiff home paying over £1,700 a year in Council Tax, the total bill on these costs is the equivalent to the full contribution of 1,172 such households. Council Tax increases in Cardiff have exceeded the rate of inflation since before the pandemic.

The news follows Davies, a councillor for Radyr & Morganstown, highlighting statistics showing that one-in-five social housing tenants in Cardiff were born abroad – most of them unemployed – questioning why taxpayers are footing the bill for subsidised* housing for non-Brits at a time of sustained shortages. Council statistics show nearly 10,000 households are on its waiting list.

Commenting, Cllr Calum Davies, said:

“Cardiff and Britain are running out of money under Labour, so why are we frittering away millions on translation and interpretation, indulging a broken immigration system and failing integration policy when we have no obligation to do so?

“People expect public money to go on the frontline services that serve them before anyone else, so Cardiff residents will be at a loss to know why we are being told immigration is to our economic advantage when Council Tax is going up for wasteful spending like this.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

• Image of Cllr Calum Davies attached. Please respond to this email with interview requests.

• The data does not include costs relating to the Welsh language. It showed Ukrainian only made up around 2% of spending and 4% of interpreting costs cover British Sign Language.

• Sources on translation costs (W38 June 2026 [LINK], W11 July 2026 [LINK])

• *Subsidised through below market-rates set by government thereby depriving the public purse of funds as these tenants receive a discounted rental price

• Source on social housing numbers 2021 census [LINK]

• Whilst W38 states the costs for translation “into English”, further clarification stated the Council “records the community language requested for each translation but it does not currently record the direction. As a result, the figures provided to you include all translation requests for Cardiff Council, irrespective of the translation direction. The figures provided in W38 are therefore the most accurate”. This document can be provided upon request.