Council tax could rise to pay for social care

SEFTON residents could be set for further council tax rises as the Government looks to solve the social care funding crisis.

Local authorities will be allowed to increase council tax by 3% in each of the next two years, under measures unveiled by Communities Secretary Sajid Javid. The money will be ring-fenced for spending on social care.

Mr Javid also revealed that a £240m cut from the New Homes Bonus, which rewards councils for building new homes, would be spent on adult social care next year.

Sefton Council voted to increase council tax by 3.99% (including a mandatory 2% social care levy) at a budget meeting in March, resulting in a £57 annual increase for Band D homes. Fears were expressed by Lib Dem councillor Simon Shaw after that meeting that similar rises would be needed in the following years, with Sefton facing a £64.4m deficit by 2020.

The Government’s announcements have faced criticism from Labour Party figures, who have argued that the Government is not committing any new money to tackle the funding crisis.

Liverpool Walton MP Steve Rotheram is one who had made such an argument, accusing the Government of shifting the problem into the hands of local councils.

Mr Rotheram, who is Labour’s candidate for Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: “The Local Government Finance Settlement outlined by the secretary of state will be yet another blow to Sefton Council, that has seen huge cuts in its funding from central Government.

“Sajid David talks about it being an opportunity to be ‘bold’ and ‘brave’ but in reality he is simply shifting the mess

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid has revealed that councils can increase council tax by 3% in a bid to solve the social care funding crisis which Metro Mayor candidate Cllr Steve Rotheram, inset, argues is just shifting the problem onto councils by starving them of the basis resources needed to deliver services.

“While Tory councils in the South will see an average fall in spending power per household of £68, the equivalent cut for Labour councils in the North is more than £340 per household – five times higher. The Tories have contributed to the North-South divide and it urgently needs addressing.”

Mr Javid has defended the measures, arguing that they ‘recognise the cost of delivering adult social care and makes more funding available sooner’.