Vast majority of English local authorities set to increase council tax

Nine out of 10 local authorities in England are increasing their level of council tax from April, a new survey has found.

Residents in some areas will see their bills rise by as much as 5%, as councils take full advantage of new powers to top up their charges with money ring-fenced for social care.

Only 22 councils are freezing council tax in 2017/18, while just one – East Hampshire – has said it is cutting the amount.

The figures have been compiled by the Press Association from all 353 local authorities in England.

They show a 180 degree turnaround from 2012/13, when nine out of 10 authorities froze or cut council tax and just 35 raised it.

The Local Government Association said the findings suggested councils had found themselves “unable to turn down the chance to raise desperately-needed money for local services” and warned increases were unlikely to prevent further cutbacks.

But the Department for Communities and Local Government said councils had “almost £200 billion available to them over four years” and should be working to deliver “sensible savings to protect front line services and keep bills down.”

The survey also found that:

• Of the 152 local authorities able to raise bills by up to an extra 3% to fund social care, more than two thirds are implementing the full amount.
• A total of 73 of these councils are also raising basic council tax by a maximum of 1.99%, making for a total increase of 4.99%.
• Breckland council in Norfolk reported the highest percentage rise (6.6%), but said it had the lowest level of tax in England.

Ferris Cowper, leader of East Hampshire council said he hoped it would encourage other councils to “think completely outside the box” and proved “there is a completely different way of running the public sector”.

He said East Hampshire had been able to make savings in part by making large investments in commercial property.

Among the 22 local authorities to buck the national trend and not raise their portion of council tax is Wyre Forest council, in Worcestershire.

Leader Marcus Hart said putting up council tax should be a “last resort”. He said he had been able to freeze the tax because of increasing other fees and charges, including ones for car parking, bulky waste collections and cutting trees down.

“Our narrative is, broadly, council tax payers – we won’t just be using you by putting up council tax just to subsidise other services,” he said.

Not enough provision in local communities for the care of elderly residents is one of the causes of so-called “bed-blocking” in NHS hospitals, which has been at record levels this winter.

This is the first time that certain councils have been able to add 3% to bills for social care – last year the maximum was 2%.

Tim Roache, general secretary of the public sector GMB union, called the levy “a sticking plaster on a gaping wound”.

He added: “That almost every local authority is being forced to raise council tax to meet the even the basic needs of communities up and down the country shows just how far the Government have gone in abdicating responsibility for public services.”

A Local Government Information Unit survey earlier this year in England and Wales showed that adult social care was the top priority for councils, but 91% of the 131 councils asked felt tax rises were not a viable way to address the funding gap.

However the think tank’s chief executive Jonathan Carr-West said, anecdotally, he was not aware of any “mass public revolt” over the levy.

He said ring-fencing money for a particular service means people “can see what it’s for. So transparency is really important”.

It allows councils to say to residents “‘this is what we need the money for, this is what we are going to do with it’, and people can have a more mature conversation about it,” he said.

Earlier this year a major row was sparked over the Conservative-run Surrey council, which was threatening to hold a referendum on whether to increase council tax by 15%.

Surrey dropped the plan in February, prompting questions over whether the council had been offered a “sweetheart deal”.

_{The Press Association compiled the survey using information sourced from all 353 local authorities in England and which was correct at the time of publication.}

Reaction to forthcoming council tax increases

Here are the key quotes from the Government, pressure groups, think tanks and councils responding to the findings.

• Claire Kober, chair of the Local Government Association (LGA) resources board:

  “Councils continue to have to make difficult decisions about which services are scaled back or stopped altogether to plug funding gaps. Amid these ongoing funding pressures, many councils find themselves unable to turn down the chance to raise desperately-needed money for local services.

  “Council tax rises are unlikely to prevent the need for continued cutbacks to local services. Cost pressures associated with homelessness and temporary accommodation, and children’s and adult social care, remain particularly acute. Plugging growing funding gaps must be a priority for government to allow councils to continue to deliver much valued local services.”

• Tim Roache, GMB general secretary:

  “Local government is near breaking point. Services that people rely on are being cut to the bone and those who work in local government – like refuse collectors, teaching assistants and care workers – have seen their pay whittled away, as prices have gone up, wages haven’t.

  “Care providers are handing back contracts and schools face catastrophe as the new funding formula looms.

  “That almost every local authority is being forced to raise council tax to meet the even the basic needs of communities up and down the country shows just how far the government have gone in abdicating responsibility for public services.

  “Failed austerity policies are being passed down to local government for them to deal with.

  “Nowhere is this more painfully obvious than in social care. A 3% increase in council tax is a sticking plaster on a gaping wound – it will not do the job.”

• Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG):

  “Council tax is expected to be lower in real terms by the end of this Parliament than it was in 2010. We’ve also put in measures to protect residents, giving them the power to veto excessive increases in bills through local referendums.

  “Alongside the £9.2 billion we’re providing for adult social care, councils can raise additional funds through council tax. However, with almost £200 billion available to them over four years, councils should be working to deliver sensible savings to protect front line services and keep bills down.”

• Jonathan Carr-West, chief executive of the LGiU think tank:

  “I’m not aware of any mass public revolt about it, in the same way that there wasn’t a mass public revolt in London about the Olympics precept. People thought ‘well, I can see what that’s for’.

  “So transparency is really important. ‘This is what we need the money for, this is what we are going to do with it’ – people can have a more mature conversation about it.”

• John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance:

  “Local councils have faced pressures on their finances because of the lack of a long-term plan for how to reform and provide social care.

  “But when at the same time, local politicians see it fit to raise their allowances by over 50% in some cases, it rightly enrages taxpayers.”

  He added: “Local authorities need to ask themselves if they really are spending every penny wisely and focusing limited resources on delivering front line services, instead of continuing to splurge on pay rises and non-jobs at town halls.”

• Ferris Cowper, leader of East Hampshire Council:

  “Why is it that the public sector feels it has to have handouts from the government? Why does the public sector feel it has to levy a tax on people?

  “Why can’t it break the mould, think completely outside the box, and work out ways in which public services can be wholly or partly funded from other sources of income and not through handouts and not through taxation?

  “I really hope that what we’re doing here gives the Government a real head-scratching problem to solve. I want them to start noticing that there is a completely different way of running the public sector, we are trying it out, and maybe to look upon us as a proof of concept model.”

• Marcus Hart, leader of Wyre Forest council in Worcestershire:

  “Our narrative is, broadly, council tax payers – we won’t just be using you by putting up council tax just to subsidise other services.”The public, in my experience of being a councillor for 15 years, also in a senior role for many years, is that they don’t like council tax just going up. They want you to think outside the box, be more commercial, form, modernise, become as efficient as you possibly can. And I don’t think you should just blindly put up council tax. I think that is a last resort.”

_{Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2017, All Rights Reserved.}