Council tax bills up £107 as services are slashed
COUNCIL tax payers face paying an extra £107 on average this year – but will still see services cut.
Bills in England could rise by a total of £1.2billion from April as town halls take advantage of new freedoms to increase the amount they charge by up to 5.99 per cent.
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid announced in December that all councils will be able to raise the tax by up to 2.99 per cent to fund services, up from 1.99 per cent. They can also levy a further 3 per cent ‘precept’ to be used for social care.
Council tax for a Band D property in England, used by the Government to compare rates in different areas, was an average of £1,591 in 2017-18. This will go up to £1,698 this April, an increase of £107, if it rises by 6 per cent plus a £12 police levy.
But these increases will fail to offset cuts of £1.4billion and expenses from the national living wage, the Local Government Association warned.
Chairman Lord Porter said households across the country still face cuts to services like libraries. He added: ‘Extra social care funding will be wiped out by the significant cost pressures of paying for the Government’s national living wage and extra general council tax income will only replace a third of the central government funding they will lose.’
LGA research found 147 out of England’s 152 social care authorities are considering or have approved a care precept for 2018/19. The 152 authorities will also raise a further £584million from general council tax, with 108 imposing increases of 2.95 per cent or more.