Households face steep council tax hikes as nearly every local authority plans to raise the levy by the maximum of 4.99% this April, an analysis has found.
At least 129 of 136 county and unitary local authorities in England who have so far published their budget proposals want to reach the threshold,the County Councils Network (CCN) said.
Councils have the freedom to raise tax by 3% – plus another 2% for social care – without holding a referendum.
Such rises will add around ￡100 to typical Band D council tax bills, taking them to an average of more than ￡2,100.
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Councillor Sam Corcoran, vice-chair of the County Councils Network, said: “This year councils have faced extreme financial pressures, with local authorities having to make some of their toughest decisions ever due to rising costs and spikes in demand for care services.
“With council tax now accounting for two-thirds of the average county authority’s funding, we have little choice but to take the difficult but necessary decision to raise council tax by 4.99% to continue to protect services and ward off the threat of financial insolvency in the future.
“No council leader takes the decision to raise council tax lightly as we know this will add to the cost-of-living for residents, but councils have had little choice but to put up council tax due to the increased demands, particularly in children’s services.
“The next government must set out a long-term funding plan for councils while also undertaking a comprehensive reform programme to help drive down costs, especially for children’s services and home to school transport.”
A total of 17 authorities are yet to declare their proposals, while four bankrupt authorities - Birmingham, Woking, Slough and Thurrock – have special dispensation to raise council tax by 10%.
Out of this quartet, only Thurrock has published proposals.
Mr Corcoran said: “Last month, the government provided a very welcome ￡600 million of additional funding for councils. This will make a tangible difference to protecting valued frontline services and in easing the pressures we face.
“Despite this, county authorities still face a ￡1.1billion budget shortfall over the next two years.
A poll from December found that nearly one in five council bosses believe it is “fairly or very likely” that they will go bust in the next 15 months as funding fails to keep pace with inflationary costs and exploding demand for child protection, adult social care and homelessness services.
At least eight councils have declared effective insolvency in the last six years.
There were more section 114 bankruptcy notices in 2023 than in the 30 years before 2018.
Shaun Davies, chair of the Local Government Association, said: “No council is immune to the risk of running into financial difficulty. As our worrying survey shows, many now face the prospect of being unable to meet their legal duty to set a balanced budget and having Section 114 reports issued."
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