Skip to main content

Council tax to soar by up to £115 a year across swathes of England

 Millions of families' council tax will soar above £2,100, with bills on course to rise by the maximum amount across three-quarters of England.

Three in four of the local authorities that have declared their intentions so far have said they will increase their rates by 4.99 per cent from April.

It means the average Band D household will fork out more than £100 a year extra, with residents of Rutland facing the biggest increase of £115.

Bills will rise the most sharply across the South West, by 4.9 per cent, while the East of England will get away with the lowest increase of four per cent.

The changes will mean that families in many rural areas end up paying a fifth more for the same services than people in London.

Councils insist they have 'little choice'

Low tax campaigners warned that the rises are “the last thing hard-pressed households need”, with the cost of living crisis biting hard.

Council bosses insisted they had “little choice” but to impose the maximum increase, with their budgets being eaten away by inflation.

There are 152 upper tier local authorities, meaning those that provide major services - of which 113 have so far announced they will raise taxes.

Out of those, 84 will put them up by just under five per cent, which is the maximum amount being allowed by the Government.

A further 29 are planning increases below the threshold, ranging from two per cent at the low end to 4.98 per cent in North East Lincolnshire.

Central Bedfordshire is the only council so far to announce it will be freezing rates next year, with 38 yet to declare their intentions.

Three authorities - Croydon, Thurrock and Slough - have special dispensation to go above 4.99 per cent because their finances are in such bad shape.

The maximum rises will be made up of a 2.99 per cent increase in the general tax rate, plus a further 1.99 per cent which is ring-fenced for care services.

Local authorities 'must crack down on waste'

Elliot Keck, from the TaxPayers' Alliance campaign group, said: “Surging council tax bills are the last thing hard-pressed households need.

“With the cap on rate rises lifted, local authorities have been given the green light to charge taxpayers for another year of wasteful spending and princely pay packets.

“Councils must crack down on waste before coming cap-in-hand to residents.”

The County Councils Network, which carried out the analysis of planned rises, said local authorities face a funding crisis and have no other choice.

Sam Corcoran - its vice-chairman and leader of Labour-run Cheshire East, which is increasing bills by the maximum amount - urged Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, to provide more help.

“With inflation reaching levels not seen for nearly 40 years and with demand-led pressures for care services showing no sign of abating, local authority leaders are setting their budgets in the most difficult circumstances in decades,” he said.

“We all recognise the cost of living crisis is impacting on every household in the country and disproportionally on those with low incomes, but we have little choice but to propose council tax rises again next year, with many councils reluctantly opting for maximum rises.

“With councils facing multi-million funding deficits next year, the alternative to council tax rises would be drastic cuts to front-line services at a time when people at the sharp end of the cost of living crisis need us to be there for them.

“With the financial situation for local authorities looking extremely tough for the next few years, we will be calling on the Chancellor for further help in the March Budget.”

The council tax rise will come on top of other local charges, with police forces told they can put up levies by £15 in April and fire brigades by £5.

If Rutland, the country’s most expensive council, chose to apply both of those increases, the total Band D bill there would rise to £2,418.

Other public bodies, like the Greater London Assembly, have also been told they can put up their bills to cover the rising cost of providing services.

link

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Cate Blanchett: Don’t cancel great artists like Picasso because of their personal foibles

  Artists should not be cancelled if their work is extraordinary,   Cate Blanchett   has argued - citing Picasso as an example of a problematic genius. The Oscar-winning actress plays a celebrated conductor in  Tár, her latest film, which addresses cancel culture . Her character, Lydia Tár , is caught up in a #MeToo scandal and faces the end of her career after being accused of predatory sexual behaviour towards some of her former protégées. Asked in an interview if it was “right to cancel great artists because of their personal foibles”, Blanchett said: “You look at Picasso. You can only imagine what went on in, outside and around his studio. “But do you look at Guernica and say: ‘That is one of the greatest works of art ever?’ Yes. It’s a fact. I think it’s important to have a healthy critique.” Blanchett says Picasso's Guernica is 'one of the greatest works of art ever', whatever criticisms of the artist's behaviour  CREDIT : Hemis/Alamy Pablo Picasso ’s rela...

Met officer who may have been able to stop Couzens before he murdered Sarah Everard resigns on full pension

  A Metropolitan Police officer who might have been able to stop Wayne Couzens resigned with their full pension before gross misconduct proceedings were brought over their alleged failure to investigate the   predator’s flashing offences . The unnamed constable failed to establish that a serving firearms officer was responsible for several indecent exposure incidents at a branch of McDonald’s in Kent, leaving him free to abduct, rape and murder Sarah Everard just days later. The officer did not identify Couzens’s profession by the time of the killing, despite Couzens driving his own car to the McDonald's, which was caught on CCTV, and paying for his food using his credit card. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) launched an investigation into how the flashing reports were handled and concluded the constable should face a gross misconduct hearing. The individual is also accused of lying to the watchdog over their account of the investigation. If they had been found...