Council tax soars to fund social care

Families facing above-inflation 4 per cent rise

FAMILIES are facing inflation-busting council tax rises this year thanks to the Tories’ failure to fund England’s creaking social care system.

Up and down the country, town halls have started proposing increases of up to 4 per cent – the maximum allowed – piling huge pressure on household budgets.

One local authority, Rutland, wants to put up bills by £68 for the average Band D home. It means that families in the county’s most expensive Band H homes will pay £136 more.

Critics accuse ministers of using council tax as an elderly care ‘stealth tax’ because they do not want to take responsibility to fund it through central Government.

Boris Johnson promised a solution to England’s social care crisis from the steps of Number 10 on his first day in office. But no plans have yet come to light, leaving local authorities no option but to charge residents more to fund elderly care.

Ministers last week gave Police and Crime Commissioners the power to put up Band D bills by £10 on top of what town halls are charging.

John O’Connell, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘These rises will put many households under even greater financial pressure.

‘The tax burden is already at a 50-year high and it isn’t fair to keep asking taxpayers to dig even deeper into their pockets.’

The Daily Mail is campaigning for an overhaul of the social care system to stop elderly people with dementia having to pay huge fees for their care.

Caroline Abrahams of Age UK, said: ‘The problems facing social care are fundamentally national and demand a determined response led by central Government. It is unfair to expect councils and local residents to pick up the tab.’

Just before Christmas, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick announced that councils would be given the power to increase the levy by 2 per cent without having to put the matter to a local referendum. On top of this, he said county and unitary councils would be able to add a further 2 per cent specifically to pay for adult social care.

Local authorities across England have started discussing how much they want to put up council tax by – and almost 30 have already said they want to increase it by the maximum 4 per cent. Others have not yet made a decision.

In fact, bills will include further increases, because levies for district councils and other authorities will be added. District councils can put up their part of the bills by 2 per cent or £5, whichever is greater.

‘Determined response’

ON a scorching day last July, Boris Johnson stood on the steps of Downing Street and vowed to solve the social care travesty.

He had, he explained, a plan to end the scandal of the frail and elderly being forced to sell their homes or raid life savings to pay bills – unfairly depriving loved ones of their inheritance.

Seven months later, we’re still in the dark. And social care, buffeted by a maelstrom of more people living longer and prohibitive fees, is closer to snapping point.

The crux of the issue is funding. Today, we reveal how town halls are hiking council tax to help ease the crisis. The hardest hit families will be more than £100 worse off.

Burdened households will justifiably fume at another rise in this unpopular charge. Yet care budgets unarguably need a shot in the arm.

Unfortunately, the extra money is sticking a plaster on a gaping wound. Time after time, successive governments have shirked fixing the problem, recoiling from the phenomenal cost and electoral peril.

But with a whopping 80-seat majority, the Prime Minister surely now has the political muscle. By yoking the Chancellor to No10 in the reshuffle, Boris aims to lift the dysfunctional Treasury’s drag anchor and deliver big ideas for voters.

Frankly, few are more pressing than social care. Of course, he mustn’t take his eye off the balance sheet. The last thing Britain needs on leaving the EU is a quick march into the economic mire.

But one of the great scandals of our age is the political cowardice shown in failing to make care viable for the 21st century.

Countless people face a pitiful old age. Mr Johnson must firmly grasp the nettle, haul this issue out of the long grass and fix it – once and for all.