Revealed: The areas facing £500 council tax rises

Telegraph

4 days ago

Householders face eye-watering council tax rises of more than £500 thanks to Rachel Reeves's spending review, analysis has found.
Treasury documents released in June said local authorities would be able to put up their bills by the maximum 5 per cent for the next three years.
Now a breakdown of council tax rates has disclosed for the first time which areas are likely to fare worst.
The analysis by the TaxPayers' Alliance reveals that Gateshead faces the largest rise, with typical bills expected to be £567 higher there in 2028/29.
With maximum increases imposed, the bill for a Band D home would rise from £2,578 to £3,145.
Those in the most expensive Band H homes would see their bills rise £1,134 to £6,290, according to the TaxPayers' Alliance.
Large increases would also affect Nottingham (up £563 for Band D and £1,126 for Band H) Rutland (£550 and £1,100) and Bristol (£549 and £1,108).
Taxpayers in Dorset, Hastings, Oxford and Newark and Sherwood will also see increases of more than £500.
The highest council tax bills will be in Rutland, where charges will increase from £2,671 this year to £3,221. Band H ratepayers in England's smallest county will have to pay £6,442.
However, Rutland is subject to local government reorganisation and may be merged with another area by 2029.
Elliot Keck, head of campaigns at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'Council tax is the ultimate stealth tax, given the way in which successive governments have piled on responsibilities to town halls without the resources to pay for them but with the permission to hike bills for residents.
'And this Government clearly intends to continue this trend by allowing years of above-inflation council tax rises, further increasing the crippling tax burden on British families and workers.
'By the end of this Parliament, the grim milestone of the first £3,000 Band D council tax bill will have been reached.
'Labour should impose lower, inflation-linked referendum caps on councils and aim for national solutions to crises such as that around social care.'
Ms Reeves announced as part of June's spending review that Home Office budgets would fall by 1.4 per cent over the next three years as she sought to balance the books.
The small print of the Treasury document said some of the shortfall in police funding this implied could be made up by increasing the police precept included in council tax bills.
On top of this, it said that local authorities would be able to increase their parts of council tax bills by 3 per cent, plus an extra 2 per cent if they provided adult social care.
These increases would be allowed for the next three years, the Treasury said.
Average Band D bill to rise £395
The imposition of maximum increases over three years implies that for Band D households, bills will go up by £395 after three years.
Average council tax is currently £2,280 – so the increase would put this up to £2,675. The largest Band H households would pay £5,350 on average.
But the TaxPayers' Alliance analysis shows that the situation will be even worse in areas which are already paying high council tax.
However, the shape of the local government map could change radically over the next three years.
Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, wants to get rid of district councils and merge their powers with that of county councils. She wants everywhere outside metropolitan areas to have a unitary authority with a population of around 500,000.
It means councils such as Rutland, with a population of just 41,000, will be merged into neighbouring authorities.