Council tax HIKE: UK households ‘facing increase of up to £80’ as ministers relax bill cap
MOST households will face council tax increases in 2018, as local authorities use the Conservatives lifting a cap on bills as an opportunity to plug funding gaps.
Conservative peer Lord Porter, who chairs the Local Government Association, has warned "the majority will have little choice" but to increase bills, in order to protect vital services amid a £2.3billion "funding gap" in the social care system.
Some councils have already increased bills by six percent, after ministers lifted the cap on tax hikes from five percent in December, according to the Telegraph.
This could mean an increase of as much as £80 for some households.
Lord Porter said the tax hike was regrettably necessary for many local authorities, as "the money local government has to maintain vital services is running out fast".
He said: "Faced with ongoing funding pressures, early indications suggest the majority will have little choice but to increase bills again this year to try and protect services."
He said the cuts to local government funding would put pressure on already overstretched councils, but raising council tax would provide "the option to offset part of the financial pressures they face in the next year".
Local authorities preparing to raise council tax by the new maximum amount include Surrey and East Sussex, where the rates on a band D property will increase by almost £80.
In Hertfordshire, the local authority is preparing to increase council tax bills by around £75.
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Lord Porter urged Theresa May’s government, which has largely been focused on Brexit above all other issues during its tenure in office, to consider the challenges before councils and offer them better funding.
He claimed: "Many councils are now beyond the point where council tax income can be expected to plug the funding gaps they face."
The peer expressed worries that the quality of services provided by local authorities could suffer regardless of an injection of funds from council tax, as the so-called "funding gap" will still exist.
He calculates that if every local authority raised council tax by the maximum amount, this would raise £540 million by 2020.
However councils are expected to be short of £5.8 billion by this point, meaning local authorities would still have to cut back the services they can offer.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is believed to have brought up the issue of public services funding at last week’s Cabinet meeting, urging an extra £100 million per week for the NHS.
He was backed up by David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, who echoed the view that the government was not doing enough to keep the NHS going.
Mr Davis is understood to have asked: "Do we want to find a way of helping NHS patients or do we just want to be virtue signalling?"